Bringing Vietnam - Belgium trade turnover to 7 billion USD in the next 2 years

(Dan Tri) - According to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, Vietnam and Belgium need to take full advantage of the Vietnam - EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), striving to bring trade turnover to 7 billion USD in the next 2-3 years.

On the afternoon of August 21, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met with President of the Belgian Senate Stéphanie D'Hose, who is visiting Vietnam from August 21 to 25. According to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, the Vietnamese Government attaches great importance to strengthening increasingly deep, substantive and effective relations with the Kingdom of Belgium - a founding member and an important voice in the European Union. The head of the Vietnamese Government assessed that Belgium is one of Vietnam's leading trade partners in the EU, and Vietnam is Belgium's largest trade partner in ASEAN. In 2022, two-way trade will reach 4.73 billion USD.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and President of the Belgian Senate Stéphanie D'Hose (Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac).

According to him, the two countries need to take full advantage of the Vietnam - EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), striving to soon bring trade turnover to 7 billion USD in the next 2-3 years. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh asked Belgium to continue creating conditions for Vietnamese seafood and traditional agricultural products such as rice, coffee and seasonal agricultural products, garments, footwear, and electronics to enter the Belgian and EU markets. He also asked the Belgian Senate to push for the Belgian Federal Parliament to soon ratify the Vietnam - EU Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) to create a favorable investment environment for businesses of the two countries; support and urge the European Commission (EC) to soon remove the EC's IUU yellow card warning for Vietnamese seafood products. As one of the countries most affected by climate change, Vietnam has asked Belgium to increase support in resources, finance, institution building and human resource training to implement its commitments at COP26, and to have specific projects to help Vietnam respond to climate change, especially in the Mekong Delta region. President of the Belgian Senate Stéphanie D'Hose highly agreed with the Prime Minister's opinion. She also shared her impressions of Vietnam's socio-economic development achievements, role and position in the international arena, and Vietnam's integration in recent times. According to the President of the Belgian Senate, Vietnam is a country with high attractiveness in the world, many Belgian companies are very interested in the Vietnamese market. Ms. Stéphanie D'Hose said that the Belgian Federal Parliament is actively implementing steps, striving to ratify the EVIPA before Belgium ends its term as President of the Council of the European Union. President Stéphanie D'Hose affirmed that the Belgian Senate will strive to promote the Vietnam-Belgium relationship to develop further through many specific actions, programs and projects, including the areas mentioned by the Prime Minister, especially in innovation, trade development, supply chain linkage and support for Vietnamese dioxin victims.

Dantri.com.vn