Giorgio Aliberti, Ambassador of the European Union to Vietnam, said the two sides should prioritize the digital economy, sustainable energy, and green growth to effectively implement the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA).

Vietnam’s President Nguyen Xuan Phuc (R) and Giorgio Aliberti, Ambassador of the European Union to Vietnam, at the meeting on June 1. Photo: VNA

At the meeting with Vietnam’s President Nguyen Xuan Phuc on June 1, Aliberti stressed that Vietnam is one of the EU’s important partners and vice versa.

The aforementioned sectors will enable the two sides to strengthen the multisectoral relations, he said.

Vietnam and the EU have inked the EU-Vietnam Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA), the Framework Participation Agreement (FPA), which will make Vietnam part of the EU’s crisis management operations, and a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) on the EU’s Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT).

In the first quarter of this year, the two-way trade hit US$15 billion, up 14.5% year-on-year.

The EVFTA is the most comprehensive and ambitious trade and investment agreement that the EU has ever concluded with a developing country in Asia. It is the second agreement in the ASEAN region, after Singapore, and it will intensify bilateral relations between Vietnam and the EU.

Vietnam will have access to the EU, a potential market of approximately 446 million inhabitants, and a total GDP of US$13,918 billion.

Meanwhile, exporters and investors from the EU will have further opportunities to access Vietnam, one of ASEAN's largest and fastest-growing countries in the region.

At the meeting, Phuc thanked the EU for donating to the COVAX Facility from which Vietnam has benefited with millions of doses of Covid-19 vaccine delivered to the country so far.

Team Europe has donated more than EUR2.2 billion (US$2.69 billion) to COVAX and is also working to ensure global and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines as well as the rollout of vaccination campaigns.

He expected to get more support in the vaccine access and tech transfer to help Vietnam accelerate its inoculation programs and vaccine production capacity.

This is the second meeting relating to the Covid-19 vaccine between Vietnam’s top leaders and Giorgio Aliberti over the past two weeks.

On May 21, Chairman of the National Assembly Vuong Dinh Hue met Giorgio Aliberti in Hanoi where he expressed Vietnam’s hope for tech transfer and increased vaccine supply from the EU.

At a press conference in Hanoi on March 23, Ambassador Giorgio Aliberti said Vietnam is a promising recipient of the EU’s Covid-19 vaccine technology transfer. Ambassadors of Germany, Spain, Italy, and the Czech to Vietnam also supported the EU efforts to deliver the Covid-19 vaccines to Vietnam.