Assistant Foreign Minister Do Hung Viet co-chairs the 2nd Session of the EU-Vietnam Political Affairs Sub-Committee. (Photo: baoquocte.vn)
On April 13, Assistant Foreign Minister Do Hung Viet and Ms. Paola Pampaloni, Deputy Director General for Asia-Pacific, the European External Action Service (EEAS) co-chaired the 2nd session of the Sub-General Committee on political issues within the framework of the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Vietnam - EU Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) in an online form.
This session took place as Vietnam and the EU are celebrating the 10th anniversary of the signing of the PCA (June 2012 - June 2022).
In an open and trustful atmosphere, the two sides discussed the recent outstanding situations in Vietnam and the European region, as well as some important policy directions on socio-economic development and international cooperation of the two sides.
The two sides assessed that the Vietnam-EU relationship in recent years has developed positively despite being affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, as demonstrated by the results of high-level visits, the growth of trade and investment cooperation, while effective disease prevention cooperation with the European Commission (EC) and the Governments of EU member countries have timely supported COVID-19 prevention vaccines and many medical equipment and supplies for Vietnam.
In the context that the EU and Vietnam's economies are gradually recovering and reopening, the two sides agreed to continue to strengthen and expand cooperation in priority areas such as trade and investment, science and technology, and transformation of green innovation, digital transformation, innovation, agriculture, and security - defense.
The two sides also discussed promoting cooperation at multilateral forums, especially the United Nations, the Asia-Europe Forum (ASEM), Mekong sub-regional cooperation and the framework of the ASEAN-EU Strategic Partnership, as well as sharing information and views on regional and international issues of mutual concern./.