The European Union (EU) is keen to promote trade ties with Vietnam, said new EU Ambassador and Head of the EU delegation in Vietnam, Franz Jessen, at a meeting with the media in Hanoi on December 12.

Regarding Vietnam-EU economic and trade cooperation over the past year, Ambassador Jessen said that instabilities in global finance and the economy had no negative impacts on the Vietnam-EU trade relationship. Vietnam’s exports to the EU over the last ten months still increased by 50 percent, and EU exports to Vietnam rose 20 percent.

The EU is now Vietnam’s third biggest trade partner, if ASEAN is considered a single bloc.

Mr Jessen said that his major tasks during his term will be focused on promoting investment and trade between EU member nations and Vietnam; lifting the EU-Vietnam political relationship to an international level; protecting human rights; preventing illegal migration; and assisting Vietnam in improving its health care and reducing poverty.

The EU diplomat also expressed his belief that economic and trade relations between Vietnam and the EU will continue to grown and flourish in the future, saying that EU businesses praise Vietnam’s commercial investment environment and are interested in long-term investment in the country.

Ambassador Jessen was formerly a lecturer of economics in Denmark and has held different posts in the EU, with experience in East Asian and ASEAN nations. He holds a PhD in public finance from the US.

Source: VOV