At the meeting, the Vietnamese top leader called on both sides to leverage their complementary strengths and make science and technology, innovation, and energy transition strategic priorities for bilateral cooperation. He stressed the need to make more effective use of cooperation opportunities through the EU’s Global Gateway initiative, the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP), and Horizon Europe, the EU’s research and innovation framework programme.
EC President Von der Leyen praised Vietnam’s development potential and its increasingly important role in regional and global supply chains. She expressed the EU’s interest in expanding cooperation on critical raw materials, particularly in sustainable extraction and processing, technology development, and supply chain diversification.
The European Commission President also affirmed the EU’s readiness to support Vietnam’s ambition to become a regional transport and logistics hub. She called for further progress on newly signed cooperation projects, including the Bac Ai hydropower project, Lien Chieu Port in Da Nang, and the renovation and preservation of Long Bien bridge in Hanoi.
Both sides agreed to strengthen the role of the special task force in implementing the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and accelerate efforts to lift the European Commission’s “yellow card” warning over illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing by Vietnamese fishing vessels.
The two leaders also agreed to expand cooperation in education and training, culture, tourism, and people-to-people exchanges, as well as defense and security, crisis management, United Nations peacekeeping, maritime security, and responses to non-traditional security challenges.
