I've been in a difficult situation. Too busy to update my blog, but the more things which happen, the more I need to update my blog!

Anyway, I should let you know what has been going on. Firstly, we had a visit to Vietnam from the Department for International Development (DFID) regional director, Sue Wardell. Sue announce further cooperation plans. Then Jim Gamble and Tim Gerrish of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP). Jim was pleased to be able to set up an advisory panel in Vietnam to help combat child exploitation.

Then the Prime Minister's Chief  Scientific Advisor, Professor John Beddington, had a two-day programme here (1-2 October). He met the Minister of Science and Technology Hoang Van Phong and the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Pham Khoi Nguyen as well the Vice Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien and Agriculture and Rural Development Bui Ba Bong. The Professor met a number of academic institutions and parliamentarians as well. We agreed priority sectors for future cooperation such as climate change, pandemics, food security and research. Click here for Prof. Beddington's interview with the BBC and his presentation to Hanoi National University.

The day after Professor Beddington left, His Royal Highness the Duke of York, Prince Andrew, arrived in his capacity as Special Representative for UK Trade and Investment. The Duke visited Vietnam last year, and it was a pleasure to see him return given his knowledge of Vietnam and love for the country. We had a number of very good meetings with Vietnamese counterparts, including Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai, Minister of Planning and Investment Vo Hong Phuc and with British companies. It was also good to see the celebration of the British Council new status given that the Council is our main organisation for delivering educational cooperation. We also had good discussions on trade and investment, education and environmental cooperation.

The Duke of York was accompanied by Sir Andrew Cahn, Head of UK Trade and Investment. Sir Andrew Cahn co-chaired the UK - Vietnam Joint Economic and Trade Committee on 6 October with Deputy Trade Minister Le Danh Vinh.

And we had an important visit to the UK, with the trip of Vice Minister of Public Security (MPS) Tran Dai Quang. We have very close operational links between the UK police and General Department of the MPS. Vice Minister Quang's visit helped to strengthen these further, including through the signature of a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty designed to help us intensify cooperation in criminal investigations still further. Vice Minister Quang visited Northern Ireland to see our work on security there and it was good to see the Northern Ireland Cooperation Organisation (NI-CO) visit Hanoi last week. I hope they will be able to establish a presence here soon.

Despite all the work, we have been engaging in a number of social activities. Firstly, the Ha Noi Moi Run for peace. This was great fun, and the Duke of York's assistant, Ann Harper, came 4th in the women's race! We also celebrated Tet Trung Thu at the Embassy with a party for the families, including a dragon dance. And Martine and I also had a good experience when we took part in the Artist Festival on Long Bien bridge to celebrate 999 years of Hanoi and 55 year of the liberation of Hanoi. Very impressive!

On Sunday, we played the State Bank of Vietnam at football and won a very close match 1-0. It was appropriate that our goal was set up by my friend Benedict Bingham, IMF representative to Vietnam. And of course we had a good time in the Bia hoi afterwards (I think we lost that competition).

At the birthday party of Joao Mendonca Lima Neto, the Brazilian Ambassador to Vietnam, I had a very interesting conversation with the Brazilian Vice Minister of Agriculture about possible cooperation with Vietnam in the area of biofuels. And I also launched the second year of the Hanoi Foreign Trade University's joint course with the University of Bedfordshire.

And now it's Sunday evening and I have two days left to prepare the very important trip to the UK of  Deputy Minister Hoang Trung Hai. It's very nice sitting outside and writing my blog with the smell of burning rice straw.

I leave on Wednesday. I will let you know how things go!

Notes for Editors

See also Ambassador's Vietnamese language blog

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