The EU diplomat informed a press briefing in Hanoi on January 11that the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA), initialled inOctober of 2010, would be officially signed this year.
Doyle said the PCA would develop the existing institutional frameworkand increase dialogue and cooperation between the EU and Vietnam.It envisages a new forward-looking and modern agenda, reflecting theneeds and interests of both Vietnam and the EU, and will be apowerful catalyst to bring the partnership to its full potential.
Negotiations on a bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) will beofficially launched as soon as possible once preliminary technicalpreparations are completed.
In regard to OfficialDevelopment Assistance (ODA) to Vietnam, the EU ambassador said the EUwas interested in worldwide dissemination of Vietnam’s experiencesin efficiently using the aid. He also made it clear that as Vietnamhad moved into the group of middle income countries, the mechanism ofODA for Vietnam would be adjusted after 2013.
Laszlo Vizi, representative of the rotating presidency of EU ministers’meetings (except foreign ministers) in the first six months of 2011,praised Vietnam for “successfully chairing a meeting of foreignministers from the two continents” (ASEM) in 2009.
In 2010, EU remained Vietnam’s biggest grant donor, second largestimporter and a partner with the largest Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)commitment.
Vietnam’s export revenues to the EUincreased by 15.9 percent year on year to almost 10 billion EUR in 2010while EU commitments of FDI in Vietnam rose by more than six timesover 2009./.