At a recent meeting in Hanoi, Dien highly valued the E.U.’s close and effective coordination in the enforcement of the E.U. - Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA). He also applauded the deal’s positive effects on promoting bilateral trade, including the fast growth of Vietnam’s agro-forestry-fishery exports to the E.U.
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Vietnam holds many advantages and is able to provide agricultural and food products to the E.U. market. (Photo for illustration: moit.gov.vn) |
Amid the necessity for diversifying supply sources to ensure food security, Vietnam holds many advantages and is able to provide agricultural and food products to the E.U. market, he noted.
The two sides discussed outstanding problems and worked on orientations and activities, particularly working together to implement the EVFTA more effectively.
The Vietnamese minister asked the E.U. to continue prioritizing technical and financial assistance as well as technology transfer for Vietnam so that the country can effectively carry out cooperation projects on capacity building with policies and production models that meet E.U. regulations and standards, including food safety, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, and other technical criteria.
Dien called for favorable conditions for production, examination, certification and trading of products while encouraging E.U. investment in promising areas such as agricultural and food processing, and high-tech farming oriented towards a circular economy, green transition and climate change adaptation.
In the first five months of 2022, bilateral trade rose 15% from a year earlier to 26.25 billion USD, including 19.59 billion USD in exports and 6.65 billion USD in imports from the E.U.
Notably, exports of agro-forestry-fishery products, which benefit from considerable preferential treatment under the EVFTA, increased 37.5% to 2.05 billion USD, according to the General Department of Vietnam Customs.
Source: VNA