Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s trip to attend the ASEAN-EU Commemorative Summit and visit Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Belgium from December 9  to 15 is expected to promote and lift the Vietnam-EU cooperation to a new height, said Vietnamese Ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg Nguyen Van Thao.

In a recent interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency, the diplomat said the tour is to continue affirming Vietnam's foreign policy of being an active and responsible member of the international community. 

According to the diplomat, the upcoming trip by PM Chinh, along with recent effective high-level external activities by the Party and State leaders, have showed that Vietnam is a responsible member that is willing to have initiatives and solutions to contribute practically and effectively to the stability and development in the region and the world.

Leaders of the EU and a number of its member countries are looking forward to meeting the Vietnamese leader in order to discuss and share global and regional issues of common concern, including promoting global trade and investment, global economic connection, climate change, energy and food security, marine economic development, sustainable development, and green and digital economy.

The EU considers Vietnam an important partner of the region, which has made certain successes in economic development as well as in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic. With many initiatives, Vietnam is expected to make more active contributions in the coming time.

These reaffirm the increasing prestige and position of Vietnam in the international arena, Thao noted.

Vietnam is one of four Asian countries that have a free trade agreement (FTA) with the EU. In the last two years when the COVID-19 pandemic raged, two-way trade between Vietnam and the EU has still increased.  Therefore, the EU is looking forward to further promoting trade cooperation with Vietnam in order to address the disruption of the global supply chain in recent times.

In addition, climate change is a high priority for the EU and the union also highly valued Vietnam's commitment at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow of the UK last year, and the Southeast Asian nations’ action plan and great determination in this field.

PM Chinh and EU leaders will discuss issues related to food security, energy security, marine economy and circular economy, which Vietnam is very interested in, while the EU has experience and strengths.

For Luxembourg, Vietnam wants to promote cooperation in financial market development because the country boasts extensive experience in the financial sector, Thao said.

Vietnam will focus on promoting cooperation in agriculture and hi-tech development with Belgium as it has advantages in farm produce export and is also a leading hi-tech centre in Europe.

Belgium also boasts strengths in logistics, seaport and renewable energy. So the country is very eager to cooperate with Vietnam in these sectors, Thao said.

The embassy will organise various activities to connect Vietnamese and Belgian firms, thus promoting cooperation opportunities towards setting up partnerships, he went on.

As part of the trip, PM Chinh will lead a high-ranking delegation of Vietnam to attend a summit commemorating the 45th anniversary of the ASEAN-EU relations in Brussels on December 14./.