Ample room remains for EU-Vietnam cooperation: EC official

Permanent Vice Chairman of the Vietnamese National Assembly Tran Thanh Man (R) receives EC Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) - There remains an ample room for cooperation between the European Union (EU) and Vietnam in the fields of pharmaceuticals, food stuff and automobile industry, European Commission (EC) Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis, who is also the EU's Trade Commissioner, has said.

Received by Permanent Vice Chairman of the Vietnamese National Assembly Tran Thanh Man in Hanoi on November 2, the official affirmed Vietnam is an important trade partner of the EU as well as its member countries. Therefore, his visit this time aims to continue promoting bilateral cooperation, particularly in trade.

According to him, the signing of the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) by Vietnam, the EU and partners is an important milestone in international collaboration in climate change response. The EC is drafting and developing a capital mobilisation plan to implement JETP expected to be announced at the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference in mid-December in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Regarding the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, the official stated the EC recognises Vietnam’s huge efforts in perfecting the legal framework in this issue, adding that it will soon send another delegation to Vietnam to address related problems.

An overview of the meeting (Photo: VNA)

For his part, Man said that Vietnam welcomes positive results in the implementation of the EU - Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), which makes an important contribution to promoting bilateral trade ties, especially in the context that the global economy, and supply chain are facing a lot of difficulties and uncertainties.

Over recent times, Vietnam has made efforts to handle issues of concern to the EU, especially that of market opening for pharmaceuticals, he stated.

He proposed the guest help push the ratification of the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) by parliaments of several EU members.

The official also suggested the EC and the EU Trade Commission encourage EU businesses to invest in Vietnam, especially in high-quality projects in processing, renewable energy and logistics; and support Vietnam in terms of capital, technology, legal affairs, human resources, green economic development, digital transformation, just energy transition, and climate change response.

Man expressed his hope that the EC will soon remove its "yellow card" warning against Vietnamese seafood exports, stressing that Vietnam is committed to maintaining close coordination with the EU to solve existing problems towards sustainable fisheries cooperation between the two sides. He suggested the EU continue to support the in sustainable fisheries exploitation projects and livelihood transformation for Vietnamese fishermen./.

VNA