Ho Chi Minh City and the UK’s Wales boast potential to
intensify their cooperation in tourism, trade, and financial and banking
services.

Besides, the two sides can also step up their
linkage in education, in particular tertiary education, the field of the
UK s strength, the UK’s Secretary of State for Wales, David
Jones, told Vice Chairwoman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen
Thi Hong during their meeting in the city on March 21.

The
Secretary said he was impressed by the strong development of Vietnam
in general, and of HCM City in particular and saw many investment
opportunities for his British businesses.

Hong, for her part,
described the opening of a direct flight route connecting HCM
City and London as the contribution to boosting the multifaceted
cooperation and trade exchanges between the two sides.

In 2012, trade between the city and the UK saw an increase of 10
percent. The city greeted over 77,000 British visitors and the number is
expected to rise in the coming time.

To connect the
two sides’ businesses, Hong suggested organising business exchanges and
fact-finding trips to seek cooperation and investment opportunities.

The Vice Chairwoman also briefed Jones on her city’s
current socio-economic development, adding that there are 95 British
invested projects capitalising at over 680 million EUR and 22 UK
business representative offices in the city.-VNA