By Martin Petty
HANOI, July 29 (Reuters) - Prime Minister David Cameronpushed to step up trade with Vietnam on Wednesday to capitaliseon "enormous" opportunities for British firms in an economyBritain would support with 500 million pounds in infrastructureloans.
Making his fourth stop on his sweep through Southeast Asia,Cameron met Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Tan Dung in Hanoi andoversaw agreements between companies of both countries ininfrastructure, engineering, insurance and energy.
A British business delegation has joined Cameron on his tripto Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam, his first ventureoutside Europe since winning an election in May.
He is seeking to expand Britain's trade relationships beyondEurope, parts of which remain struck in an economic rut.
"Our trade with Vietnam accounts for just 0.5 pct of theUK's total global trade and I think that indicates the enormousopportunity that there is," Cameron told a news conference.
"We want to go much, much further ... we believe there'smuch more to come."
Britain would provide 500 million pounds ($783.8 million) incredit finance for Vietnam's infrastructure development, whichhe said would also provide opportunities for UK firms.
Vietnam's $184 billion economy, about one-fifteenth of thesize of Britain's, is growing at 6.28 percent, one of Asia'sfastest rates.
Britain is the third-biggest European Union investor inVietnam at $2.7 billion, with Rolls-Royce StandardChartered and Marks and Spencer among UKcompanies operating in the communist country.
Bilateral trade has doubled in the past three years andreached $2.5 billion in the first half of 2015, mostly exportsof textiles, footwear and cellphones to Britain, according toVietnamese government data.
Vietnam is pushing through a series of economic reforms,attracting foreign firms like Intel Samsung and LG to its manufacturing sector, buoyed by itspursuit of numerous multilateral free trade agreements slashingexport tariffs to major markets.
They include a FTA with the EU, which Dung said would "openup great opportunities" for firms from Britain and Vietnam.
Among agreements reached on Wednesday were a $1.4 billion,20-year deal between Vietnam Airlines and Rolls-Royce and theissue of a 100 million pounds sovereign bond by Vietnam'sFinance Ministry to Prudential.
In a veiled reference to the assertiveness of neighbourBeijing in the South China Sea, Dung said he and Cameron "sharedeep concern" over recent developments that threatened securityand freedom of navigation, "particularly the large scale landreclamation activities". (Additional reporting by Mai Nguyen; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
Marks & Spencer (MKS)