The visiting prince, who is also a special representative for the UK’s international trade and investment, made the remark while meeting with Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in Ho Chi Minh City on September 9.

During the meeting, PM Dung said he was delighted that the prince focused on the two governments’ top priorities, including trade-investment and education-training cooperation, during his visit.

“The visit will contribute to fostering bilateral relations between Vietnam and the UK,” the PM added.

He agreed with the prince’s emphasis on the importance of boosting education-training cooperation between the two countries, including facilitating UK universities’ operation in Vietnam and training English language teachers for the Southeast Asian country.

Education is the Vietnamese Government’s great concern, the PM said, stressing the need to create favourable conditions for Vietnamese students to access advanced education systems.

For trade and investment, he affirmed that his government will join efforts with the UK government to boost cooperation.

In the future, with appropriate economic development measures, including those to curb inflation, which are on the right track, Vietnam will continue being a country with socio-political stability and high economic growth, the PM said, adding that this will be a convenient condition for British businesses to operate in Vietnam.

The PM expressed his wish that the prince will further support Vietnam and encourage British businesses to invest in the country, as well as creating favourable conditions for Vietnamese commodities to enter the UK market.

Prince Andrew cited British businesses he met during his visit as saying that Vietnam has potential in various areas and that they commit to long-term investment in the country.

He said he wants the Vietnamese Government to facilitate financial and investment cooperation between the two countries as well as operations of British educational institutions.

After the meeting, PM Dung and Prince Andrew witnessed a function where the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) handed over licenses to the HSBC and Standard Chartered to set up wholly foreign-owned banks in Vietnam.

This was the first time such licenses were granted to foreign banks, showing the Vietnamese Government’s goodwill to foster trade and investment cooperation with the UK and to fulfill international commitments, said SBV Governor Nguyen Van Giau.

The governor also said he hopes the two banks will become important bridges to the UK’s stronger investment in Vietnam and monetary market development.

Meeting with Le Hoang Quan, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee on September 9, Prince Andrew expressed his pleasure to witness the great changes in HCM City and in Vietnam as a whole.

British businesses are interested in the infrastructure development, education and finance in Vietnam, said Prince Andrew. The Duke of York and special representative for trade and international investment of the UK praised HCM City’s important contribution to the achievements of UK-Vietnam cooperation over the recent past, and noted that British businesses and organisations such as the 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 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 the 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.

The prince expressed his delight 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 hopes that the training programmes would lay a foundation for Vietnamese students to get good results when they attend universities in the UK.

On September 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 US$1.9 billion in total.