The European Trade Policy and Investment Support Project (EU-MUTRAP), which aims to enhance Vietnam’s international trade integration and boost Vietnam-EU trade ties, recorded positive results, heard a seminar in Hanoi on June 25.

Addressing the event, which was co-hosted by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) and the European Union to review the implementation of the project, Director of the Ministry’s Department of Trade Promotion and EU-MUTRAP Director Buy Huy Son said through various activities, the project helped improve the building of trade and investment policies in Vietnam.

It also assisted Vietnam in promoting its trade links with the EU and other partners, thus boosting the country’s global integration.

As many as six sub-projects directly funded by the European Commission (EC) were implemented in the framework of EU-MUTRAP, which begun late 2012.

Fracessco Abbate, a senior expert from the project, suggested measures to reach better results in the next three years, saying the project needs to focus on activities supporting businesses and diversify methods for implementing the project.

Reports presented at the seminar revealed limitations from carrying out the project, including shortcomings in providing assistance and supervising sub-projects, ineffective operations and weakness in sharing information between project units.

Funded by the EU and mainly operated by the MoIT, the 16.5-million EUR project aims to help Vietnam integrate deeply into the global trade system, ASEAN region and sub-regional cooperation mechanisms, while bolstering trade and investment ties between Vietnam and the EU. It is also expected to support comprehensive economic development and poverty reduction.

EU-MUTRAP has mainly concentrated on supporting the MoIT in building capacity for policymaking, policy consulting, negotiation and implementing multilateral, regional and sub-regional trade commitments, especially those serving Vietnam-EU connection promotion.-VNA