The signing of the MoU between Ben Tre Province and Vietnamese Embassies in Belgium and Luxembourg, and the Vietnamese Delegation to the EU (Photo: baoquocte.vn)
The solutions discussed are mainly in areas of promoting export and investment in agricultural products; strengthening cooperation in preliminary processing, preservation and transportation of fruit products for export; exchanging experiences to promote cooperation on climate change, high-tech cooperation, digital economy, green economy; cooperating in training and labor export; and cooperating in renewable energy and environmental protection.
Speaking at the workshop, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Minh Vu said that so far, Vietnam is the second country in ASEAN, after Singapore, that has a free trade agreement with the EU. “This is an unprecedented advantage and opportunity for the relationship between the two sides to come into reality,” he added.
“However, the modest 2% of Vietnam’s export to the EU shows that there is still great room for Vietnam to promote cooperation with Europe,” he went on to say.
Agreeing with Deputy Minister Nguyen Minh Vu, delegates at the workshop said that Vietnam has the potential and room to cooperate with the EU in many fields, including exporting and attracting investment in agricultural products, climate change adaptation and renewable energy development. As EU countries have strengths in high-tech agriculture, organic agriculture, and lead in climate change adaptation and renewable energy development, the EU's need to promote cooperation in these areas is enormous, according to delegates.
To promote cooperation between Vietnamese localities and the EU, delegates said that they should increase investment in market research for development of efficient export strategy and attraction of investment from the EU. Moreover, enterprises need to improve the quality and design of packaging, ensure the right quantity and schedule, develop advanced cold storage systems and agricultural product preservation techniques, and promote the construction of a synchronous logistics system.
Within the framework of the workshop, the signing ceremony of a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation between the People's Committee of Ben Tre Province and the Vietnamese Embassies in Belgium and Luxembourg, and the Vietnamese Delegation to the EU, took place, to support trade promotion and investment attraction from the EU and Ben Tre in a number of fields, especially high-tech agriculture, renewable energy, and salt water treatment technology for agriculture and tourism./.