At a reception
for Antonio Tajani, Vice President of the European Commission and
Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship, the Prime Minister
affirmed that the Vietnamese Government welcomes and facilitates
European companies, including small and medium-size enterprises, to do
long-term business in Vietnam.
Thanking the
European Commission for granting the Generalised System of Preferences
status in the 2014-2016 period to Vietnam, the Prime Minister asked the
commission for an early approval of the Vietnam-EU Partnership and
Cooperation Agreement and the signing of the Vietnam-EU Free Trade
Agreement by 2014.
These agreements are legal
frameworks, which will help businesses penetrate into each other’s
markets in order to further expand economic, trade, investment and
tourism ties.
The Vietnamese leader also asked
the European Union to early recognise Vietnam’s full market economy
status and continue maintaining official development assistance for
Vietnam.
Antonio Tajani said that all 40
European businesses and media agencies accompanying during his visit to
Vietnam want to expand cooperation in trade, investment and tourism with
Vietnam.
He affirmed that the EU desires to
promote cooperation with Vietnam, especially its small and medium-sized
enterprises operating in agricultural product processing, tourism,
chemicals and cosmetics, adding that a business delegation plans to
visit Vietnam next year to seek cooperation opportunities in these
fields.
The EU is willing to promote cooperation with Vietnam in space, particularly in disaster forecast and warning, he added.-VNA