EU wishes to upgrade relations with Việt Nam on back of strong trade ties: Senior foreign policy official

Josep Borrell (right), High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy & European Commission Vice President, at the talks with the press in Hà Nội on Wednesday. — VNS Photo Trọng Kiên

HÀ NỘI — The European Union (EU) is seeking to soon upgrade ties with Việt Nam from the current Strategic Partnership to better reflect the reality of the bilateral ties, EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told the media on Wednesday.

During working visits to Việt Nam, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs & Security Policy, and Vice President of the European Commission noted that Việt Nam is a country in Southeast Asia with which the bloc has the largest number of cooperation agreements, including the EU-Việt Nam Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) and the EU-Việt Nam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA).

The entry into EVFTA in August 2020 has made Việt Nam the EU’s biggest trade partner in Southeast Asia and since then, bilateral trade has increased by 36 per cent.

“It’s clear for us that Việt Nam is a crucial partner of the European Union in the implementation of our Indo-Pacific Strategy and we look forward to bring forward the state of our relationship. I would like my visit to be the starting point to launch the process to raise our relationship to a higher level,” Borrell said, referring to the next step of Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

“I can say that one of the most important deliverables of this mission has been decision to start working from today onwards towards upgrading our relationship,” the EU senior official revealed.

Việt Nam and the EU will celebrate the 35th anniversary of diplomatic relations in 2025.

With the fast-growing economic ties, the two sides want a recognition of this reality and seek to further augment the cooperation ties, he remarked, adding that there are a number of levels of cooperation spheres and partnerships between Việt Nam and the EU that are not commensurate to the intensity of the bilateral relationship.

With questions related to the delays of EU member states in ratifying the accompanying component of the EVFTA that is the EU-Việt Nam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA), which covers investment protection and dispute resolution, requiring approval from both the European Parliament and the parliaments of member states to come into effect, Borrell said he is urging member countries to expedite the approval process for EVIPA.

This is in the interest of both EU member states and Việt Nam, as when investors have more investment security and less investment risks, they are more willing to invest, he noted. Currently, 18 out of 27 EU countries have approved EVIPA.

The EU senior official said he was also impressed by the resilience of the Vietnamese people as well as the fast economic growth of Việt Nam in recent years, supported by robust diplomatic engagements to strengthen ties with countries including the United States, European and Asian countries and become an active player in the international arena.

With regards to EC’s ‘yellow card’ warning levied against Vietnamese fisheries exports over Illegal, Unreported & Unregulated (IUU) fishing issue, the EU senior official said the two sides are working to guarantee sustainable fishing, with healthy sea and prosperous coastal communities in the future.

The EU has been working and having effective engagements with Việt Nam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on compliance measures such as equipping fishing vessels with tracking devices.

The issue now is the enforcement by some provinces of Việt Nam and this work belongs to the provincial authorities, he stressed.

The EU is expected to receive a report from the Vietnamese authorities on the IUU situation in September this year. Based on that, the EU will send a delegation to inspect the reality of the fishing situation and he looks forward to the removal of the yellow card warning.

The EU official also remarked that while Việt Nam’s enjoying fast economic development, it’s important to preserve the environment. The EU supports Việt Nam’s commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, especially through the framework of the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) which will help identify priority projects and necessary regulatory reforms towards this goal.

During the talks with Vietnamese leaders — President Tô Lâm, Deputy Prime Minister Lê Thành Long, foreign minister Bùi Thanh Sơn, as well as Secretary of the Party Central Committee and head of its Commission for External Relations Lê Hoài Trung — the two sides have also touched on the rising tension in the South China Sea (called the East Sea in Việt Nam), which concerns the EU.

Borrell added that this area is not too distant to the EU, the EU has “direct interests” in maintaining the peace and security here, as 40 per cent of the imported product volume and 26 per cent of the exported products volume pass through this sea.

“We are encouraged by diplomatic activities of Việt Nam and other regional actors such as the Philippines and Indonesia,” he said.

The EU could offer Việt Nam measures to enhance its maritime and cybersecurity capabilities as well as crisis management.

With regards to whether the outcomes of the recent EU elections might have an impact on the EU’s policies towards Việt Nam, Borrell said that he still has four months left in his term and during this time, he will continue to enhance the cooperation between the EU and ASEAN and Việt Nam and this trip points towards that.

“I think that the succeeding leadership [of the EU] will continue to pay the same level of attention, if not more, to this region, as we are convinced that the future of mankind will be written from this region,” Borrell said. — VNS