British PM visits Vietnam with focus on trade, economic cooperation

Thomson ReutersCameron speaks at a news conference in Hanoi LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Britain will seek stronger cooperation with Vietnam to crack down on the trafficking of Vietnamese children to the United Kingdom, David Cameron said on Wednesday as he became the first British prime minister to visit the Southeast Asian country.

Mr Cameron said those responsible would face “tougher sanctions”.

The UK government has announced that £36 million will be the turnover threshold at which firms will have to report on slavery in their supply chains.

The UK’s larger businesses will have to issue a yearly statement to explain what they are doing to ensure slave labour and human trafficking is not being used by suppliers.

Both leaders witnessed the signing of several business deals – a US$580 million aircraft maintenance agreement between Rolls Royce and Vietnam Airlines, and Prudential’s investment of £100 million (US$156 million) in the Vietnamese Finance Ministry’s first issue of 20-year government bonds.

The announcements are part of a package aimed at the problem of “modern day slavery” where people, often victims of illegal people smugglers, are forced into servitude.

Additionally, the UK’s independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner, Kevin Hyland, will make a visit to Vietnam in the autumn.

Bilateral trade between the two countries has doubled in the last 3 years, but it still represents just 0.5% of the UK’s total global trade, Cameron said in Hanoi.

The UK also agreed to extend some half a billion pounds of credit to Vietnam for infrastructure development, Cameron said, adding he had discussed the need for “better business integrity” with his Vietnamese counterpart.

“The cannabis is what we see – but that’s the tip of the iceberg”, Diep Vuong, president of Pacific Links Foundation which works on trafficking in Vietnam, told Agence France-Presse.

There are 21million across the world now held in slavery, Aidan McQuade, Director of Anti-Slavery worldwide, also speaking on the programme.

According to the Home Office, there are around 12,000 people enslaved in the UK alone.

Child protection charity ECPAT said the failures of British authorities to identify trafficked children were “unacceptable“. Business leaders already have a moral duty to ensure that their profits are not built on exploitation.

Earlier, Najib had welcomed Cameron at the Perdana Square.

“We each have a responsibility too, as consumers, to vote with our wallets and send a clear message – “no more slaves”.