(VOVworld) - The EU will continue to boost cooperation with ASEAN in all fields, said visiting EU Ambassador to ASEAN Francisco Fontan Pardo at a press conference in Hanoi on Thursday.

Head of Vietnam's NA’s Committee for External Relations Tran Van Hang (R) ​and EU Ambassador to ASEAN Francisco Fontan Pardo (Photo: VNA)

Pardo said he hopes the EU’s ties with ASEAN will grow as strongly as they have with Vietnam. The EU is currently ASEAN’s second largest trading partner and the third biggest investor in Southeast Asia.

Pardo said in the future, the EU will help ASEAN build its pillars of security, economics, and culture, double its funding to help ASEAN to fulfill its development targets, and speed up negotiations on the ASEAN-EU free trade agreement.