(VOVworld) - Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso discussed multilateral cooperation between Vietnam and the EU at the EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on Monday. The two leaders expressed their delight at VN’s achievements and the EU becoming Vietnam’s leading partner in many fields. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said at a press conference following the talk: “European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and I both agree that the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement is very important and could help both sides resolve many economic challenges now and in the future. We instructed negotiators to intensify their work with a view to concluding negotiations in the next few months. I also asked the EU to recognize Vietnam's full market economy status at the time of signing the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement. President Jose Manuel Barroso and I released a joint political statement which stresses the need to reach an EVFTA soon. I strongly believe that the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement and the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) will serve as key instruments to further deepen our bilateral comprehensive partnership and strengthen our flourishing trade and investment relations on the basis of mutual benefit.”
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| Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso |
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and President Jose Manuel Barroso exchanged views on some regional issues of mutual concern. Barroso expressed his hope of strengthening the ASEAN-EU relationship and praised VN’s great contribution and active role in ASEAN. He promised to back ASEAN in regional security restructuring and strongly condemned any act which threatens regional peace and stability or maritime security and safety. He called on all parties to respect commitments made in the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), and step up the building of the Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC).
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso witnessed the signing of documents welcoming the EU’s pledge of 400 million euros to Vietnam in the 2014-2020 period.
The same day, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung also met with President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy, who said the EU and Vietnam are long-standing partners. Van Rompuy said the two sides agree on the importance of the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, which the EU and Vietnam signed in 2012, noting that the agreement, once ratified, will lift the partnership to a new level. The EU is Vietnam's second-largest trade partner and its largest development donor.
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung also met with Chairwoman of the Belgian Senate Sabine de Bethune and Vice President of the Chamber of representatives, Françoise Schepmans. Prime Minister Dung spoke highly of the fruitful parliamentary relations between the two countries, and praised the active contributions of the Belgian Senate and Chamber of Representatives to strengthening the relationship between Vietnam and Belgium. Both sides agreed to boost cooperation, particularly in trade and investment, and lend mutual support at multilateral forums.
They stressed the need to foster Vietnam-EU relations, with a view to ratifying the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA), recognizing Vietnam’s full market economy status, and completing negotiations on the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) as soon as possible. Prime Minister Dung conveyed National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung’s invitation to the Belgium’s parliamentary leaders to visit Vietnam and attend the 132nd Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly in Hanoi.
Later the same day, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung visited the City Hall of Brussels and met with Brussels Mayor Ivan Mayeur who pledged to do his best to enhance the relationship between the two countries.
On October 14, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung met with the President of the parliament of the Federation of Wallonie-Bruxelles, Jean-Charles Luperto, and President of the Wallonie-Bruxelles Delegation, Rudy Demotte.