UK-Vietnam Relations : A Snapshot with HM Ambassador Iain Frew

The UK-Vietnam Relationship: A Conversation with His Majesty's Ambassador to Vietnam, Mr. Iain Frew

On the BritCham Vietnam podcast, His Majesty's Ambassador to Vietnam, Mr. Iain Frew, discusses his diplomatic career, the strengthening of UK-Vietnam relations, trade opportunities, and the importance of a sustainable energy transition. 

Current global challenges such as the ongoing conflict provoked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the instability in the Middle East. are also discussed along with  highlighting upcoming elections around the world in 2024 and their potential implications.

For more information about the Britcham Chamber of Commerce Vietnam please visit www.britchamvn.com

Transcript

Matt Ryland: 0:52

Hello and welcome to the BritChamp Vietnam podcast. Welcome back. I'm honoured today to be joined by His Majesty's Ambassador to Vietnam, Mr. Ian Frew.

Ian Frew: 1:03

Hi Matt, thanks for having me on. It's great to be joining you.

Matt Ryland: 1:06

welcome, and I'm looking forward to talking to you shortly. let's crack on. before we get into the kind of diplomacy and, and the political aspect, I thought it might be, a good idea just to get a bit of context, a little bit about yourself, and a little bit about your journey so far and how you ended up, in Vietnam as, His Majesty's

Ian Frew: 1:23

Ambassador. Yeah, that's a great, great place to start. and I guess the first thing I should say is that I wasn't always a diplomat. so I have been a diplomat for a while now. I've been working in the foreign office for about 18 years, but that's not how I started my career. and, my direction. So, I, started as an accountant before joining the foreign office. And for a few years, worked for PwC, actually in tax consultancy, but that was not my direction, and as I was looking for an alternative path from there, the Foreign Office attracted me, partly because I had been a history graduate, I had always been interested in international relations, I found myself reading interesting articles, talking to people about international relations, and so really always was looking for something in that area. I joined the Foreign Office and since then my career has really gone in a number of Different and quite interesting directions, I think. So I started off my career with a posting to Moscow, and since then I've also been posted to Brussels, where I worked on our relationship with the EU, and, worked on that relationship, both in the period before our referendum, and then after the Brexit referendum. I worked in Brazil, and, Most recently, and now in Vietnam. So it's been quite varied geographically. And to be honest, I sometimes try and draw a golden thread through all of these, places and these themes. But, I would say I'm really interested in working places that are changing rapidly, that are interesting to build with. And I think I found arriving here in Vietnam, that in some ways, this is my dream job, really, ambassador to Vietnam, working with a country that is changing so rapidly, that's developing so fast, and that is looking outwards to the world to do So for me, this is, this is a great place to land.

Matt Ryland: 3:11

Excellent. So accountancy drove you to diplomacy?

Ian Frew: 3:15

Something like that. Yeah, it definitely, sometimes when I look back at it, I think, why was that the direction I kicked off in? But on the other hand, I found that some of those skills I learned as an accountant have stood me in good stead. there's definitely something about the training, definitely something about the work of reaching out to a whole range of clients that, has its parallels or has its uses when you're a diplomat as well. So I haven't disowned it. Definitely proud of that background.

Matt Ryland: 3:40

Well, yeah, and I have to say, I've seen you at a couple of our member events with I understand you are, still involved with those, which is, great to see. okay, so let's, take you back, a little while. Because actually, time flies. I think it was August 2022. You began, where Vietnam was just coming out of, COVID. So a very different place. So you arrived. what were your first impressions how did you, find things arriving in, such a

Ian Frew: 4:03

time? Yeah, that's exactly right. August 22. And actually I arrived here after some time in London, where I had been studying Vietnamese. with a really good teacher and trying to get my Vietnamese up to a decent level on arrival. as I think, it's a pretty tough language. and I found for me, I got to a, an okay level, but, arriving in August meant I'd arrived after the COVID restrictions had lifted and it really felt to me on arrival as though Vietnam was a place full of energy. people wanting to get back to business. that period of lockdown, that period of restrictions had been really difficult for a lot of people personally, and, and for their work as well. And I just had this sense of people wanting to get back to normal, get back to the things that had been happening before COVID. definitely learning some lessons from that period, but very much feeling that that was a gap and, wanting to get right back to, to business. My other first impression was of somewhere that was incredibly optimistic about the future, Vietnam. I think this is not just a first impression, but one that stuck with me is somewhere. that people feel tomorrow is going to be brighter and better than today. And I think that optimism comes from the incredible development journey that Vietnam's had over 30 years. But also, it is something that's in, in the character of Vietnamese people. And it's something that I would say draws a contrast with some other parts of the world where, whether it's been some of the economic difficulties or some of the security challenges, the future doesn't always look so bright. So those are, those are the first things that struck me when I, when I arrived here.

Matt Ryland: 5:44

it's certainly true to say the resilience, is, is incredible. And, we saw that before you arrived and as you say, after you arrived too. So sticking with that, looking back a little bit, 18 months, a lot's happened. I guess to look at what you were looking to achieve, what, what were your kind of key points or your, your main objectives and, sorry to test you. have you achieved them?

Ian Frew: 6:05

All right, that's a great question. that's asking me to score my own report card. So I'll do my best to answer that. Honestly, I think one of the first things, and this isn't something that people always see externally, is that as an ambassador, you also arrive as a leader of your team and a leader of your network. And we have, a team here in Vietnam of, over a hundred staff between our embassy in Hanoi and our consulate general in Ho Chi Minh City. And that's a team which spans loads of different areas, whether that is the trade team, our team working on security and defense, the team working on our political relationship and how we're working together internationally, in multilateral fora, work on development, work on climate, this is a broad, network of people. And, one of the things that I definitely set out to do in Arrival was to make sure that as we develop the UK Vietnam relationship that we have the right people working on the right things. So for me to see our network develop and expand in this period has been something I'm very proud of. And I would say we've definitely expanded in a way which reflects the way our relationship between the UK and Vietnam is broadening and deepening. And just to give a couple of examples of that, we have seen a real growth in our team that works on climate issues and that's gone alongside the work that, we'll talk a bit more about, I think, around, the Just Energy Transition Partnership and commitment by Vietnam to net zero that we are strongly supporting. but it's also in areas which don't quite catch the headlines in the same way. we've recruited, an agriculture attaché for the first time from the UK to Vietnam, which really reflects our ambition to build. the trade relationship in agriculture and agri food for the future. I'm quite proud and I think we have achieved our effort to, to expand that network and to make sure that that network is having the impact we wanted to externally. But if you look back over, over those 18 months, my overall ambition was to make sure that we were delivering on what we'd said we'd do in our strategic partnership. the UK and Vietnam have had a strategic partnership since 2010. And that covers so many different areas of work, as I've said, we're working together on international peace and security, on trade, on climate and energy, education, health care, and when you consider all of the, areas of cooperation between our countries, that is something where it requires action and requires energy across, across all the teams. so for me, I think, what I. seen over the past 18 months is a team that's really getting on with building our partnerships, building our relationships, seeing our, agreements, deepen and, for our partners that we're working with in the Vietnamese government, in the business community, seeing the benefits of that. I would give a mostly achieved to that rating. But if I'm going to give you the slightly less rosy, part of my scorecard, one of the things I set out to do on Arrival was to deepen my understanding of Vietnam as a country and to make sure I get out and about a bit more. And I confess that in these 18 months, I haven't got out as much as I wanted to. So I've, definitely got out to some different regions and provinces of Vietnam. But, when I think about where I started and what I'd hoped to do, to really get out, I think there's a partly achieved, score on that one. so one of my ambitions for the year ahead is definitely to, take every opportunity to get out of Hanoi to get out of, the, areas I'm more familiar with and into those parts of Vietnam I've yet to visit.

Matt Ryland: 9:33

Excellent. So there's, there's still room for improvement here. And that's what you're saying. Excellent. I think also, it's a reflection of where we are at the development of Vietnam. There never is a quiet moment. So yes, getting away and getting out is easier said than done. so we talked a little bit about, When you started and when you started in August 22, we were leading up to an incredibly important year for relations between the UK and Vietnam. The 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations. So I'd just like to delve a little bit more deeply into that. there was an awful lot that happened. and really to look at, what do you think were the key moments in that year and it was very much a bilateral celebration. So hopefully you can also elaborate on that aspect of kind of maybe maybe visits, back to the UK as well. And, in reality, do you think it has strengthened

Ian Frew: 10:21

relations? Yeah, that's a great question. Often when we're celebrating an anniversary, we are very caught up with events and visits and activity. And it's important to ask ourselves. while these things achieving what we set out to do in the first place. so the 50th anniversary, was something that, for us and for many other countries represented a real milestone because it represents 50 years since 1973, since the Paris Peace Accords, and since the UK, like a number of other countries, established full diplomatic relations with modern Vietnam. And I, see that as a moment for us to really look back on what we achieved over those 50 years and set the direction for the future. So for us, it was an important anniversary, not just a symbolic milestone. And, uh, I was very glad to see that over the year of celebrations that we, organized, and organized in partnership with, many of our other partners and friends, including with BritCharm, I'm delighted to say, that we, we saw some really high level. important moments, a real highlight, not just for our 50th anniversary, but for the UK as a country. We'll see the coronation in May of King Charles III. That was a moment for us to celebrate, to mark an important constitutional moment for the UK, but also we had a high level visit. So Vietnam's new president, Võ Văn Thuân, visited the UK for that event, and that was our first top level opportunity to engage with him and with Vietnam leadership this year. So a symbolically important moment, but also, showing the, the ways in which we, intended to work together across the year. I think the other key moments for me were actually around our UK festivals. in September in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City and the event we held in Da Nang as well. and, for some of your listeners who will have been to those festivals, that was a moment for us to show a broader side of what the UK is about and what a relationship with Vietnam is about than, the day to day diplomatic priorities. So, we had cultural moments. It was fantastic having 90s boy bands, 9 1 1, there as our headliners, as well as a range of acts that are linked to the UK. and alongside, fashion shows, booths with education and business, sustainability as themes running throughout. we really had, the best of the UK, on offer. And I was so thrilled to see the thousands and. probably tens of thousands of people who were able to see what the UK had to offer and interact with those, cultural moments. a highlight for me within that was definitely seeing a Liverpool legend, Glenn Johnson, at the Ho Chi Minh City, event. And I think one of the things always strikes me about our relationship is, how much, Vietnam loves the English Premier League and, how every conversation I have here in Vietnam, involves a recognition of football. So football definitely binds our countries together. And that was just one element of festivals, which showed, how. Those elements around culture and education and so on really do, do bring us together. I can't go without mentioning Harry Potter, of course, who is, feels like, one of the best ambassadors still for, for, the links between the UK and Vietnam. So those I think were some moments which really caught public attention in our 50th anniversary, in which I'm very proud of. but you also asked Matt about, how the relationship strengthened. over the year. And I think, we saw some visits and events, which really showed how we're moving into new areas of cooperation. You know, we had visits by our Secretary of State for Scotland, our Secretary of State for Environment, and, those are visits that don't happen every year, that show us that, in areas. of trade in areas of environment and nature cooperation. We are working together in ways that we haven't before, and alongside that, we have a now a regular rhythm of ministerial visits, which we had last year on trade on defense on foreign affairs, which I think shows that, the 50th anniversary symbolizes this. There is a level of trust. strategic trust in the relationship. So we, we have these structures, we have this level of trust and it just allows us to get on and do more things together. but, we set sustainability as one of our main goals for the 50th anniversary. And within that, I think the work that we've done on energy transition over the past year has really shown us the potential. of the relationship, Vietnam came out of the COP26 summit in Glasgow, having committed to net zero. but that's an ambition for Vietnam, as for the UK and many other countries really needs to turn into plans and reality through. A lot of complex policymaking through a lot of training and development and through a lot of investments, frankly. And what we've managed to do over the past year working together with Vietnam is to establish this Just Energy Transition Partnership. Building on Vietnam's Power Development Plan 8, to show how Vietnam can make that transition from a high carbon power grid that uses a lot of coal through to using more renewables, developing offshore wind, developing the solar sector, and I think the UK's path over the past decade. from coal to more renewables is also part of that story. We've got experience that we can share, and I feel that over the past year, we've really made strides forward. there's more to do, but I think that's been a really, good high point for me.

Matt Ryland: 15:37

It's been a busy year. I think it's time to look forward now. we've kind of looked, back and, what's been happening. And I think some of the things that you touched on, could have been more recent times will be relevant to this final part about looking forward. This year, keeping the momentum going, continuing to build. on the relationship and, looking at things like you've mentioned JetP, we have the free trade agreement that is continuing and going from strength to strength. We now obviously have CPTPP. so your top priorities for, for this year. and maybe if I may also kind of what challenges do you see, in, in achieving

Ian Frew: 16:10

those? Yeah, so I think, we're exactly at that point just as, uh, the year of the dragon, begins that we are thinking about what does the year ahead hold for us. it's going to be quite an exciting year, but not without challenges, as you say. and, for me. Trade is probably the starting point. You've mentioned some of the fantastic work that's happened in recent years, so the free trade agreement between the UK and Vietnam that's now been in place for a few years, and this year we will see the ratification of the UK's accession to the CPTPP. trade area. And, that's something that, was a highlight of the past year in terms of agreeing the UK's accession. Vietnam was a huge champion of that. and in the year ahead, we're going to see ratification and that deal coming into force. So I feel that at this stage, one of our challenges, and this is working very closely, with businesses here in Vietnam and in the UK, is how do we make the most of these deals? having negotiated some fantastic access, tariff reductions, and so on, we've seen an increase in trade over the past, 18 months. And that's brilliant. Some of that might be COVID recovery, but some of it represents, taking advantage of new markets. Our bilateral trade with Vietnam is now over 7 billion, but that can grow further. And I think we've got huge opportunities to ensure that we support businesses to take advantage of the free trade agreements, that we are supporting into growing sectors of the economy. And really there's huge complementarity between the UK and Vietnamese economies, Vietnam, huge manufacturing export power, taking in lots of foreign direct investment to support with that, looking to move up the value chain, and an increasingly powerful agricultural producer and supplier for the world. And the UK, indeed, has, its specialist manufacturing, its specialist, expertise in a number of, sectors where Vietnam is looking for that, whether that's in healthcare and life sciences, in tech and digital, and in financial services. So I think there are, there's real complementarity in terms of sectors and the UK's, services expertise, which are going to link in incredibly well to Vietnam. So I think there's huge potential there. There's a lot for us to build on, on the trade side. And for me and my team, I think the focus is going to be We've got the building blocks in place. How do we make the most of them? How do we work with business with investors and with government here to make sure that we're unlocking all of the opportunities. and one of those opportunities alongside the JETP has got to be how are we supporting the energy transition. So in the next 12 months, both under the JETP and more generally, what I'd like to see us do is to move on from the, again, the ambition set out in our JET P and in the resource mobilization plan, which was published and launched by Prime Minister Ching at the COP Summit in UAE in December, and really moved from there into, okay, so what are the projects that we are going to get on with? how are we going to line up the, investments? And there are many, as we know, many investors, many, energy companies and others who are ready to support this energy transition, with those opportunities. And as we do so, we need to get the right regulatory environment. So this is, something that, that's for, Vietnam and the Vietnamese government to through with international support and the UK. Co leading the JETP with the EU on behalf of the G7 Plus stands ready to do this, right? it's getting the right regulatory and legal environments to really attract investment, get the right, the right flow of funds into the right projects is complex, but it's necessary if the energy transition is going to happen. So I've got hopes for the year ahead that that's something we can make real progress on. and. I do also want to see, our continuing progress in deepening our defense and security relationship. one thing that Vietnam has done over the past 20 years, if I think about where some of my predecessors were 20 years ago in terms of conversations with the Vietnamese government, defense and security wasn't really on the agenda and bit by bit, I think we've built up to a level where Increasingly, as Vietnam looks out to the world and looks at how it's ensuring its own peace and security, both in the region and globally, it's looking for international partners. And we have found that our conversations over recent years have really come on some way. last year, the visit of HMS Spade to Ho Chi Minh City was part of a, I hope, A series of ship visits that we will see for the future and have seen in the past and represents our commitment to, freedom of navigation, free and open Indo Pacific, and ensuring maritime security in this region. So these are things we'll be working on, with Vietnam to support that security, and, perhaps that leads me on to the last part of your question, Matt, because, you referred to the challenges. And if we look globally, I think, peace and security are real challenges, aren't they? we see the ongoing conflict, provoked by Russia's invasion of, of Ukraine, and, as much as we, would wish to see Ukraine success, things are, looking like tough going and, that's an ongoing challenge. one where the UK government's strongly committed to support Ukraine, as far as it takes to victory, but clearly, that is an area of challenge and instability. and as we've seen, since October, and Hamas's horrific attacks on Israel, the, response by the Israeli government and the situation in Gaza. and the wider Middle East has become more inflamed and there are real challenges around both supporting the Palestinian people and the humanitarian needs there, but also the wider challenges to security and stability that that has led to, including the actions of the Houthis in the Red Sea, which has an onward impact on on international trade. So I think one of the things this shows us is whatever happens in the year ahead, some of these challenges to peace and stability, whether they happen in one region or another, are connected to all of us and to what happens in other parts of the world. So we have to see this security as indivisible, and we have to see that these challenges are ones that we need to work on together, because otherwise we're all going to be impacted by them. And, that's talking about. current challenges and instability, but we always need to be ready for ones in the future as well. And that's why partnerships between countries like the UK and Vietnam, supporting the international order can really help us. you probably, would like me to talk about elections and I'm delighted to mention that in the year ahead. I think one of the things that, 2024, that everyone noted was that a lot of the world's population will be voting this year. Not Vietnam's population, it's not an election year here, but, it's something like 60 percent of the world's population will be involved in votes this year. And that's, you know, we've already had the Taiwanese elections, there are Indonesian elections coming up, beyond our region, elections in India, in Europe, and, in both the UK and the US. later this year, to mention just, some of those happening across the 2024. And one of the things that elections does for all of us is it makes us think, what, what will that look like? What are the options and possibilities in transition? the UK's election will happen at some point later this year. We don't know the exact date yet. and people are looking to what the, priorities and manifestos of the parties are going to be for that. And alongside that, a lot of speculation, particularly about the US election, right? So what will the impact of the US, contest, which is shaping up to look like a Trump Biden contest, again, mean for all of us? What will the, what the contest mean and what will the result mean? So those are things which definitely, create a sense of fluidity and create a sense of needing to be well prepared for different options and opportunities.

Matt Ryland: 23:45

It's gonna be a busy year ahead. there is lots going on and I think, your last point of, being prepared and planning, there are some things that are going to be out of our control. but Vietnam is in a great place to continue to push forward, and develop and hopefully, the UK we will stand, side by side and, continue to do, what we have been doing. Ian. Thank you so much for your time. it's been a pleasure to talk to you, in between the New Year's. I didn't say Happy New Year. It's a bit difficult at this time of year. But, Happy New Year. I hope you have a wonderful Tet. greatly appreciate your time. and yeah, thank you very much.

Ian Frew: 24:15

Thank you very much, Matt. It's been a real pleasure to talk to you. Always happy to, come and talk about what we're up to at the, UK Mission here. and wish you and all the listeners a very happy New Year. Chukwungnamwoy.

Matt Ryland: 24:29

I hope you agree there is some great work being done, but also so much more we can do, and at Britcham Vietnam we will continue to push this agenda. For more information on Britcham Vietnam, please visit britchamvn. com. Thank you for listening and see you next time.