HRH The Duke of York visits Vietnam (October 2009)

In October 2009, HRH The Duke of York met Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Planning and Investment during his two-day visit to Vietnam. At the third annual UK-Vietnam Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO) meeting in Hanoi, The Duke said that Vietnam is “a fast-growing market that is quickly moving up the value chain”. He also took the opportunity to visit HSBC/Bao Viet, Rolls Royce and the British Council.

“The Vietnamese authorities are very enthusiastic about working with firms from abroad. I want to do what I can to encourage British companies to realise the incredible opportunities there are and help them to succeed here,” the Duke of York said.

UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) in Vietnam said there had been a number of positive outcomes from the JETCO meetings, including local incorporation for UK banks in Vietnam, the clarification of distribution rights for foreign companies, and clarification on data and intellectual property rights (IPR) protection for the pharmaceutical sector.

“In financial services, only 10% of Vietnamese have a bank account. HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank are now the first foreign banks to have domestic branches,” said Sir Andrew Cahn, Chief Executive of UKTI. “Another financial services company, Prudential, is now the largest single overseas employer of Vietnamese nationals. As a result of off-shoring, software company Harvey Nash now has 2,500 software developers in Vietnam.”