(Adds details of Rolls-Royce contract, paragraph 13)
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 a tour through Southeast Asia,Cameron met Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Tan Dung in Hanoi andpresided over the signing of several deals between firms of bothcountries in infrastructure, 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 re-election in May.
He is seeking to expand British trade relationships beyondEurope, parts of which remain stuck in an economic rut.
"Our trade with Vietnam accounts for just 0.5 percent 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, whichCameron said would also provide opportunities for UK firms.
Vietnam's $184 billion economy is one-fifteenth the size ofBritain's but growing at 6.28 percent, one of Asia's fastestrates.
Britain is the third-biggest European Union investor inVietnam at $2.7 billion, with Rolls-Royce, StandardChartered and Marks and Spencer among UKfirms operating in the communist but pro-business 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 mobile phones to Britain, according toVietnamese government data.
Vietnam is pushing through a series of economic reforms,attracting foreign companies like Intel, Samsung and LG to its manufacturing sector,buoyed by its pursuit of numerous multilateral free tradeagreements slashing export tariffs to major markets.
They include an FTA with the EU, which Dung said would "openup great opportunities" for firms from Britain and Vietnam.
Among agreements reached on Wednesday were the issue of a100-million-pound sovereign bond by Vietnam's Finance Ministryto Prudential, and a contract for Rolls-Royce to provideservice and maintenance to Vietnam Airlines
Rolls-Royce said in a statement that the value of thecontract was $580 million. During the news conference, Dung hadput the value at $1.4 billion over a 20-year period.
In a veiled reference to the assertiveness of neighbourChina 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 Mark Heinrich)
Marks & Spencer (MKS)
Rolls-Royce (RR.)
