The Lord Mayor made the statement at a roundtable forum with UK law and financial firms and a HCM City Development Steering Committee meeting on July 6.

At a meeting with Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee, Le Hoang Quan, on the same day, the Lord Mayor suggested the establishment of a working group, including representatives of UK companies operating in Vietnam together with HCM City ’s financial advisors, to promptly realise financial cooperation projects agreed upon by the two sides during the visit.

Difficulties surrounding investment in the city’s infrastructure development projects may be solved by setting up flexible public-private cooperation entities, he said.

On the occasion, Chairman Quan briefed the UK guests about the city’s new financial centre, to be located at the Thu Thiem Urban Area in District 2. He said he hoped that HCM City would become an important centre of focus for cooperative infrastructure development projects between the two sides, including railways, roads, hospitals and schools. He also voiced his strong support for the UK ’s project to open a school to train financial experts and accountants in the city.

Speaking with the press on the occasion, London Lord Mayor Luder affirmed the resolve of UK companies to establish a long-term relationship with Ho Chi Minh City, even in the context of the on-going global economic downturn.

The effectiveness of cooperation between the two sides has been proven by the licensing of two UK banks--the Hong Kong-Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) and Standard Chartered--to operate in the country, he said. He added that the building of major traffic routes to Ho Chi Minh City’s new financial centre and connecting the centre with the administrative area is essential to attract international investors and financial experts.

In 2007, the former Lord Mayor of London, John Stuttart, came to Vietnam to introduce UK financial institutions to the country and define areas of cooperation between the two sides, including education and training, legal and financial services and securities exchange.