Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions his Department has had with the authorities in Vietnam about human rights and the protection of minorities.

I most recently raised our human rights concerns, specifically freedom of expression, in November when I met the new Vietnamese Ambassador to London. I also raise human rights with the Vietnamese in our formal, annual Strategic Dialogue, the next of which is planned for early 2015.

British Embassy officials have regular working level discussions with the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Public Security and Ministry of Justice on both domestic and international human rights issues. Most recently, on 3 December, our Ambassador to Vietnam raised the importance of maintaining a constructive and regular dialogue on human rights in a meeting with Pham Binh Minh, the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Vietnam.