Lisbon (VNA) – Portugal backs theearly signing of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), PortugueseMinister of Foreign Affairs Augusto Santos Silva told Deputy Prime MinisterVuong Dinh Hue during their meeting in Lisbon.

At the meeting as part of Hue’s current visit to the European country, the two expressed their delight at the recent development ofthe two countries’ relations, following the visits to Portugal by PrimeMinister Nguyen Tan Dung in June, 2015 and Deputy PM Pham Binh Minh in May lastyear.

They agreed that Vietnam and Portugal should further bolster bilateral ties ineconomics, trade, investment, education and cultural exchange. 

The two governments need to facilitateenterprises from both sides to make inroads into each other’s markets andinvest in the two nations’ areas of strength, Hue said.

He asked Portugal to push for the early signingof the EVFTA which can act as a catalyst for the Vietnam-Portugal economicrelations to grow further.

The Portuguese FM spoke highly of Vietnam’srobust economic growth and affirmed his country’s support to the earlysignature of the EVFTA. 

The Portuguese government wishes and is ready to create favourable conditionsfor Vietnamese firms to do business in the country, he added.


During the visit, Deputy PM Hue delivered aspeech at the Vietnam - Portugal Business Dialogue which gathered about 50leading firms from the both sides.

Vietnam’s political and socio-economic stability and its investment incentives arefavourble business climate for foreign investors, including those fromPortugal. In 2017, Vietnam achieved high economic growth of 6.8 percent, drewin more than 30 billion USD in foreign direct investment and post over 420billion USD in foreign trade turnover, he said.

He reiterated that the State and Party ofVietnam is consistently pursuing economic reforms and improving local legalsystems for the economy to integrate deeper into the global economy. 

With the EVFTA and other new-generation FTAssoon coming into effect, he encouraged Portuguese companies to invest in the areasof manufacturing, hi-tech industry, infrastructure development, environment,agriculture-forestry-fisheries and food processing, renewable energy,information technology, pharmaceuticals, biology, construction, high-qualityservices, and finance-banking in Vietnam.

Many Portuguese businesses voiced theirinterest in partnering with their Vietnamese peers in finance, export of farmproducts, pharmaceuticals and tourism and hoped to get better access to ASEANmarkets via Vietnam.

Hue, accompanied by Vietnam’s leadingcorporations like VNPT, Vietcombank, VinaCapital and CT Group, also met withlocal leading firms during his visit.-VNA