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Prince Andrew busy with business events
PM Dung and Prince Andrew on Sept.9 witnessed a function where the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) handed over licenses to set up wholly foreign-owned banks to HSBC and Standard Chartered.
This was the first license of its kind granted to foreign banks, showing the Vietnamese Government’s goodwill to foster trade and investment cooperation with the UK and to implement international commitments, said SBV Governor Nguyen Van Giau.
The governor also said he hoped the two banks will become important bridges boosting the UK’s investment in Vietnam and its monetary market development.
Meeting with Le Hoang Quan, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee on Sept. 9, Prince Andrew expressed his pleasure to witness the great changes of HCM City in particular and Vietnam in general.
British businesses are interested in the infrastructure development, education and finance in Vietnam, said the visiting Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and special representative for trade and international investment of the UK .
The Prince praised HCM City’s important contribution to the achievements of UK-Vietnam cooperation over the recent past, and was pleased to note that British businesses and organisations such as BP, Apolo, Bell Vietnam and Hong Kong Land have actively contributed to the city’s development.
He believed that his visit would further promote British businesses’ investment in Vietnam and encourage Vietnamese businesses to increase ties with the UK , considering it as an important way to enter the European market.
During his two-day stay in HCM City, Prince Andrew attended the inaugural ceremony of a new office of Premier Oil Vietnam, met with leaders of BP and Hong Kong Land, and witnessed some other functions.
Speaking at the debut of the Vietnam-UK international pre-university joint training programme of Bell Vietnam the same day, the Prince said that the programme is a vivid manifestation of the Vietnamese government and people’s attention to education and training.
He was delighted at Vietnam’s economic growth over the past 10 years, which has enabled Vietnamese families to send their children abroad for study. He said he hope that the training programmes would lay a foundation for Vietnamese students to get good results when they attend universities in the UK.
On Sept. 10, Prince Andrew will witness the inauguration of Renaissance International School Saigon, visit the Clinical Research Centre of Oxford University at the Tropical Diseases Hospital and meet with representatives of Vietnamese businesses.
The UK is one of biggest EU investors in Vietnam with 105 investment projects, worth 1.9 billion USD in total.
VNN
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