Hanoi (VNA) – The firstmeeting of the European Union-Vietnam Joint Committee for theimplementation of the EU-Vietnam Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Partnershipand Cooperation (PCA) took place in Hanoi on May 10.

Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Foreign AffairsTo Anh Dung and Director for Asia and Pacific in the European External ActionService (EEAS) Gunnar Wiegand co-chaired the event.

Close to 80 delegates from Vietnam’s ministriesand sectors as well as 40 representatives from the EEAS, the European TradeCommission, the EU delegation, and embassies of EU member countries in Vietnamparticipated in the meeting.

The launch of the Joint Committee aims to speedup the implementation of the PCA, which took effect from October 1, 2016.Vietnam and the EU pledged to strengthen the overall cooperation through thebilateral comprehensive partnership and cooperation.

At the meeting, the two sides highly evaluatedthe development of Vietnam-EU relations over the past three decades,emphasising their wishes to further deepen the bilateral cooperative ties inthe fields of delegation exchanges, security-defence, trade-investment, law,justice, science-technology, clean energy, and agro-forestry-fishery.

The EU extolled Vietnam’s socio-economicdevelopment achievements and position in the region and hoped to enhancecoordination with the Southeast Asian country to promote ASEAN-EU ties.

The EU also voiced its support for themaintenance of security and safety of navigation and aviation and law respectingin the East Sea.

Enhancing the bilateral cooperation in globalissues will contribute to peace and development in the region and the world,according to the EU side.

The two sides affirmed to promote the signingof the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the Investment ProtectionAgreement (IPA) in the coming weeks.

The early implementation of the deals will helpcreate a strong boost for business and investment ties as well as a strong waveof high-quality investment from both sides.

Vietnam and the EU also discussed necessaryprocedures towards the ratification and effective implementation of basicconventions of the International Labour Organsiation (ILO).

The two sides exchanged views on the bilateraldevelopment cooperation programme for the 2014-2020 period, and agreed to focuson the fields of rural electrification, effective use of energy, renewableenergy development, climate change adaptation and sustainable development,judicial cooperation, public financial management and economic matters, humanresources training, culture, education, tourism and people-to-people exchanges.

They applauded the enforcement of the VoluntaryPartnership Agreement (VPA) on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance, and Trade(FLEGT) between Vietnam and the EU from June 1, 2019. 

The EU recognised Vietnam’s efforts inreforming the legal framework to address issues related to illegal, unreportedand unregulated (IUU) fishing. 

The two sides also agreed to implement amid-term review mechanism to ensure the effective implementation of theachieved results, actively contributing to the reinforcement of the bilateralcomprehensive partnership and cooperation.

They consented to hold the second meeting ofthe Joint Committee in Brussels, Belgium, in 2020.-VNA