ASEAN economic ministers and the EU Trade Commissioner agreed on the
2013 cooperation focus of fostering investment ties between the two
sides, at their 12 th consultations in Hanoi on March 8.
To enhance trade and investment between the two regions, the
consultation adopted the ASEAN-EU Trade and Investment Work programme
for the 2013-2014 period.
The programme includes a
number of regular activities such as dialogues, consultations, and
cooperation and support programmes for ASEAN, aiming to improve trade
and investment relations between the two regions, as well as
contributing to deeper ASEAN integration, and between ASEAN and the EU.
The participants exchanged views on each region’s
current development and were pleased to witness growing trade and
investment flows across ASEAN and the EU despite the difficult world
economy.
They discussed regional and international
issues, especially the significance of the regional economic integration
process in ASEAN and the EU, and noted the status of negotiations for
the bilateral free trade agreements between several ASEAN member
countries, including Vietnam , and the EU.
The
host Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang, who also represents
the current ASEAN-EU economic cooperation coordinator of Vietnam ,
updated the meeting on the programmes and initiatives to intensify
economic cooperation, trade and investment relations between the two
regions.
He said ASEAN highly valued the effective
support of the EU in the implementation of various ASEAN-EU economic
cooperation programmes, such as the ASEAN economic integration
supporting programmes, capacity-building on institutional issues,
collecting statistical data, and enhancing the negotiation capacity of
ASEAN’s free trade agreements, intellectual property rights and air
transportation matters.
ASEAN economic ministers
applauded the ASEAN Regional Integration Support from the EU (ARISE)
project that supports the building of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC)
by 2015 by strengthening the capacity of its member states and the
association’s Secretariat.
On March 9, the
ministers, EU Trade Commissioner and about 700 businesses from the two
regions will participate in important consultations in Hanoi .
The event is expected to provide policymakers of countries in both
regions and the business community a chance to share their experience
and information in order to further boost economic and trade cooperation
between the two regions.
In 2012, the EU topped the list of FDI investors in ASEAN and was ASEAN’s third largest trading partner.
The EU is Vietnam ’s second largest trading partner and leading importer of Vietnamese commodities.
By October last year, the EU had 1,781 FDI projects in Vietnam with a total registered capital of 33.4 billion USD.-VNA