Ex-British PM visits Vietnam to boost ties

The visiting former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (UK) Tony Blair met with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in capital Hanoi on Monday. At the meeting, Dung spoke highly of Blair's visit to Vietnam, which contributes to strengthening the strategic partnership between the two countries. The Vietnam-UK relations have developed positively in recent years, though still not commensurate with the potential of both sides, Dung said, proposing the two sides to work together to further boost cooperation in all fields, especially politics, diplomacy, trade, tourism and education, to support each other in multilateral forums. Dung expressed his hope to continue to receive Official Development Assistance (ODA) from the UK, focusing on infrastructure construction and climate change. Tony Blair, for his part, expressed his willingness to share experiences with Vietnam in restructuring economy, attracting investment, tackling climate change, protecting environment and promoting private-public partnership (PPP). Blair confirmed that he would continue working to further boost the fine relations between the two countries. On the same day, Blair also met with Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh and visited the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam.