State President Nguyen Minh Triet made the remark while receiving a delegation from the telecommunications giant British Telecom (BT) led by BT'S Asia Pacific President Allen Ma in Hanoi on June 5.

President Triet said Vietnam has become and will continue to be an attractive investment destination for major British companies such as BP, and Prudential.

The Vietnamese leader asked British Telecom to consider cooperating with relevant Vietnamese agencies to carry out projects and programmes for mutual benefit.

Mr Allen Ma expressed his admiration for Vietnam 's socio-economic achievements over the last two decades and his belief that after joining the WTO last year, Vietnam is now on the cusp of a very bright future.

Mr Ma concluded by saying that British Telecom is eager to work with Vietnam in upgrading the country's information technology infrastructure, and is also prepared to help Vietnamese software businesses export their products.