Prime Minister visits Europe and attends ASEM 10 Conference in Italy
At the invitation of Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo, President of the European Commission (EC) Manuel Baroso, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany Angela Merkel, Prime Minister of Italy M. Renzi and Pope Francis, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung will pay an official visit to the Kingdom of Belgium, the European Union (EU), the Federal Republic of Germany from October 13-15, attend the 10th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM 10) in Milan, Italy from October 16-17, 2014 and visit the Vatican on October 18.
The visit aims to exchange directions and measures to promote comprehensive, substantive and effective relations between Vietnam and partners in Europe.
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| Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung attended the 9th ASEM Summit in Laos in 2013. |
Promoting bilateral cooperation between Vietnam and Belgium
Vietnam and Belgium established diplomatic relations on March 22, 1973. The friendship and cooperation between Vietnam and Belgium have developed well in recent years. In terms of politics, the two sides maintain high-level delegation exchanges and actively coordinate at multilateral forums, especially at the United Nations and within the framework of ASEM and ASEAN-EU.
Trade and investment relations have increased continuously. In the period 2000-2010, bilateral trade turnover grew rapidly and steadily, from 395.4 million USD in 2000 to 1.2 billion USD in 2010. Vietnam continuously had a large trade surplus during this period. Two-way turnover in 2013 reached 1.8 billion USD, an increase of 17% compared to 2012.
In the first seven months of 2014, trade turnover grew positively, reaching 1.3 billion USD. Although Belgium is a small market, trade relations between Vietnam and Belgium are high compared to many other European countries, because goods from Vietnam enter Belgium to be transported to other Western European countries (the port of Antwerp in Belgium is one of the major cargo transit ports in Europe). Currently, Belgium is the 6th largest export market of Vietnam in the EU (after Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, France and Spain).
Vietnam's main exports to Belgium are footwear, textiles, seafood, coffee, and handbags. In addition, wood, rubber, plastic products, stones, and precious metals are items with fast export growth and great potential.
Vietnam imports mainly machinery, equipment, spare parts, steel, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals from Belgium. Belgium is the largest import market in the EU and the third largest in Europe (after Russia and Ukraine) for steel; and the fourth largest market in the EU for importing machinery, equipment, and spare parts.
By the end of August, Belgium had 51 projects with a total investment capital of 155 million USD, ranking 35th out of 96 countries and territories with foreign direct investment (FDI) in Vietnam. Belgium's investment is mainly in the processing and manufacturing industry.
The projects are mainly 100% foreign-invested and relatively small in scale (average 3.16 million USD/project compared to the national average of 15.6 million USD/project). Currently, Vietnam has only two projects: the Trade Promotion Center in Brussels (152,000 USD) and the European Seafood Investment and Trade Joint Stock Company project (90,000 USD). Vietnam is the only Asian country to receive development assistance from the Belgian Government with about 78 million USD for the period 2011-2015.
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung's official visit to Belgium aims to promote bilateral cooperation in various fields, including seaports, logistics services, green growth, high technology; and promote cooperation in development aid...
Exchange of directions for Vietnam-EU cooperation
The European Union (EU) currently consists of 28 member countries. Vietnam and the EU officially established diplomatic relations in 1990. Vietnam-EU relations have developed substantially and comprehensively with the two sides officially signing the Partnership and Comprehensive Cooperation Framework Agreement (PCA) and are moving towards concluding negotiations on the Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA).
Politically, the two sides maintain regular high-level exchanges and contacts. Vietnam has established strategic partnerships with six EU member countries (UK, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, France and Italy). Trade is an important pillar in Vietnam-EU relations.
The EU is one of Vietnam's second largest trading partners and largest export markets. The EU is the region that accounts for a large proportion of trade relations between Vietnam and Europe, accounting for about 90% of import and export turnover with the European market.
From 1990 to 2013, Vietnam-EU trade turnover increased more than 100 times (from 295 million USD to 33.7 billion USD). In the first 7 months of 2014, total two-way turnover reached 20.5 billion USD, up 7.33% over the same period in 2013, mainly due to increased exports.
The outstanding feature of Vietnam-EU two-way trade is high complementarity and low competition. Vietnam has continuously enjoyed a trade surplus with the EU, especially in the last 10 years with an average trade surplus of 3-5 billion USD, equivalent to 50% of export turnover.
The structure of Vietnam's exports to the EU has shifted towards increasing the proportion of high-quality goods, clean food, and handicrafts, and reducing the proportion of medium-quality goods and raw agricultural products.
In 2012, the EU surpassed the United States for the first time to become Vietnam’s largest export market. By the end of August, 23 out of 28 EU countries had invested in Vietnam in 1,503 projects with a total registered capital of 18.55 billion USD.
The EU and its member states are the second largest bilateral donor of ODA and the largest provider of non-refundable aid to Vietnam. The EU has committed to increase its aid to Vietnam by 400 million Euros in the 2014-2020 period, a 30% increase compared to the 2007-2013 period.
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung's visit to the EU aims to discuss the direction of Vietnam-EU cooperation in the coming time, promote the early conclusion of EVFTA negotiations and discuss strengthening cooperation at multilateral forums such as the United Nations, ASEM, and ASEAN-EU.
Implementing the Vietnam-Germany Strategic Action Plan
Vietnam and the Federal Republic of Germany established diplomatic relations on September 23, 1975. For many years, Germany has been one of Vietnam's important partners in Europe. Mutual trust and understanding between the two countries have been increasingly enhanced through maintaining high-level delegation exchanges and cooperation mechanisms.
During German Chancellor Angela Merkel's visit to Vietnam in October 2011, the two countries' Prime Ministers signed the Hanoi Joint Statement on establishing a Strategic Partnership, which set out specific goals and measures to strengthen cooperation in priority areas.
Germany is Vietnam's largest trading partner in Europe, accounting for 19% of Vietnam's exports to the EU (equal to the UK and France combined) and is also an important transit gateway for Vietnamese goods to other markets in Europe. Bilateral trade turnover has increased steadily by over 10% per year.
In 2013, it reached 7.7 billion USD (an increase of 18% compared to 2012); in the first 8 months of 2014, it reached about 4.9 billion USD. The main items that Vietnam exports to Germany are textiles, phones and components, footwear, coffee, seafood, etc. and imports from Germany are mainly machinery, equipment, spare parts, means of transport, automobiles, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals. Germany considers Vietnam a market with potential for rapid development in Asia (after China and India).
As of August, Germany had 232 valid projects with a total registered investment capital of 1.25 billion USD, ranking 22nd out of 101 countries and territories investing in Vietnam. Germany's investment fields focus on equipment manufacturing, energy, chemicals, medicine, etc.
Germany has committed to providing Vietnam with $100 million in development assistance in 2014-2015, focusing on three priority areas: environment, energy and vocational training. In 2015, the two countries will celebrate the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations.
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung paid an official visit to the Federal Republic of Germany to implement the Vietnam-Germany Strategic Action Plan; promote cooperation between the two countries in the fields of labor, vocational training, education and implement major signed projects; prepare for activities to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the establishment of Vietnam-Germany diplomatic relations in 2015...
Building Vietnam-Vatican relations
Vietnam-Vatican relations have been maintained positively. High-ranking Vietnamese leaders such as General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, and National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung have met the Pope during their visits to Italy.
The two sides have held five rounds of negotiations of the Joint Working Group on Vietnam-Vatican relations. Since April 2011, the Vatican's non-resident Special Envoy to Vietnam has made many pastoral visits to Vietnam, participating in major religious activities of the Catholic Church in Vietnam and visiting localities.
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung visited the Vatican to promote the development of Vietnam-Vatican relations; and asked Pope Francis to continue guiding the Catholic Church in Vietnam to implement the guidelines of "Accompanying the nation" and "good parishioners and good citizens"./.
According to VNA
