Business relations between Vietnam and EU to strengthen after free-trade agreement.
The Vietnam-European Union (EU) ties are expected to further improve after the two enter a free-trade agreement in October 2014. As per the negotiations between Vietnamese prime minister Nguyen Tan Dung and European Commission Chairman Jose Manuel Barraso, held in Hanoi (Vietnam) on Monday, August 25, 2014, areas of cooperation between the two regions would include healthcare, environment, climate change, information and communication technology, as well as finance.
At present, EU is Vietnam’s largest supporter in development projects, the second largest trading partner, after China, and accounts for a majority of the country’s export market. EU receives mobile phones and other electronics, footwear and textiles, and agricultural products, including coffee, rice and seafood as imports from Vietnam.
The two regions have been in trade talks since two years now, with trade for last year pegged at $36 billion. This was due to the fact that European investors were allowed by the Vietnamese government to invest $880 million in the last year alone.
The EU would further be providing assistance of €400 million for a period of six years from now, which will be put towards governance, sustainable energy and regulatory reform.
Photo Credits: ChannelNewsAsia
