VietNamNet Bridge – The European Union (EU) expects to conduct negotiation of a Free Trade Area (FTA) agreement with Vietnam and sign the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) in 2011.

The Delegation of the EU Commission to Vietnam held a press conference on January 11 in Hanoi to welcome the year 2011 and release the information about the cooperation between the EU and Vietnam.

As the largest non-refundable aid provider, the biggest foreign investor and the second biggest importer of Vietnam, the EU wants to strengthen its ties with Vietnam by signing the PCA and negotiate the FTA.

At the press conference, the Ambassador and Head of the EU Delegation in Vietnam, Sean Doyle, expressed optimism about bilateral relations in 2011.

Doyle said the PCA will develop the existing institutional framework and increase dialogue and cooperation between the EU and Vietnam. It envisages a new forward-looking and modern agenda, reflecting the needs and interests of both Vietnam and the EU, and will be a powerful catalyst to bring the partnership to its full potential.

Negotiations on an FTA will be officially launched as soon as possible, once preliminary technical preparations are completed.

With regard to Official Development Assistance (ODA) to Vietnam, the EU ambassador said the EU is interested in worldwide dissemination of Vietnam’s experiences in using the aid efficiently.

He also made it clear that as Vietnam has moved into the group of middle income countries, the mechanism of ODA for Vietnam will be adjusted after 2013.

The EU delegation also announced that Hungary holds the rotating presidency of the EU in the first half of 2011.

Hungarian Ambassador to Vietnam, Laszlo Vizi, praised Vietnam for “successfully chairing a meeting of foreign ministers from the two continents” (ASEM) in 2009.

In 2010, the EU remained Vietnam’s biggest grant donor, second largest importer and a partner with the largest Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) commitment.

Vietnam’s export revenues to the EU increased by 15.9 percent year on year to almost 10 billion EUR in 2010 while EU commitments of FDI in Vietnam rose by more than six times over 2009.

About the EU’s interest in the 11^th Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam, which opened on January 12, Ambassador Doyle said that there are two issues of concerns: reform of state-owned enterprises and the role of the National Assembly.

XLinh