EU - Viet Nam's number one trading partner,
says EC head delegate
VNECONOMY updated: 10/05/2005
Viet Nam's trade with the European Union (EU) is expanding dynamically, at an average rate of around 20 percent per year since 2000. This has secured the EU's position as Viet Nam's number one trading partner, said Head of the European Commission's delegation to Viet Nam, Markus Cornaro.
In an interview granted to the English-language daily newspaper Viet Nam News to mark celebrations of EU Day (May 9), M. Cornaro said: "The EU also remains the largest investor in Viet Nam in terms of realised FDI - and that is what counts. We expect that the Market Access and the Early Harvest Agreement will further reinforce our position in Viet Nam's external economic relations. And we also warmly welcome Viet Nam's proactive role in taking relations further as a whole between the EU and ASEAN, by agreeing to become the ASEAN coordinator for all joint actions under TREATI (Trans-Regional EU-ASEAN Trade Initiative)."
Regarding Viet Nam-EU political relations, the EC head delegate noted that they are also becoming closer, not least as a result of the ASEM 5 Summit, which Viet Nam organised successfully last October. This provided the opportunity for a host of meetings between top European and Vietnamese leaders, including an EU-Viet Nam Leaders Meeting at the level of the heads of government of Viet Nam and the EU Troika.
On other fields of cooperation, he affirmed ties are also intensifying. In development cooperation, the EU (individual EU member states and the European union as a whole), for some time now, has been the largest provider of grant ODA. In education and science and technology, there are more joint activities. Finally, EU-Viet Nam cultural exchange is helping to bring our people closer together. The Europe Day's cycle of cultural and information events, underway this month, is a prime example.
Source: Vietnam Agency
http://www.vneconomy.com.vn/eng/index.php?...id=050510100117
Very good news!
QUOTE
A review of Viet Nam-EU 15-year ties
VNECONOMY updated: 07/09/2005
At present, the European Commission and EU member countries are largest provider of non-refundable aid and the third largest donor of Official Development assistance to Viet Nam, after Japan and the World Bank.
Most EU-funded projects focus on areas prioritised by Viet Nam, such as rural development, human resource development, health care, education, technical assistance, management capacity building, and administrative and judicial reforms.
At the 2004 donors' consultative meeting, the EU committed a total of 722.53 million euros to Viet Nam in 2005, up 37 percent from the previous year.
In the first five months of this year, the EU poured more than 293 million USD into Viet Nam, representing 64.8 percent of the total FDI flow into the country in the period.