Deputy FM Le Thi Thu Hang receives senior official from the European External Action Service
WVR - On the afternoon of July 22, at the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Thi Thu Hang received Ms. Paola Pampaloni, Deputy Managing Director of the Asia-Pacific Department and Indo Pacific Specilal Envoy at the External Action Service (EEAS), European Union (EU).
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| Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Thi Thu Hang received Ms. Paola Pampaloni, Deputy Director General in charge of Asia-Pacific region, European External Action Service (EEAS). (Photo: Quang Hoa) |
Deputy Foreign Minister Thu Hang expressed her pleasure at meeting Ms. Pampaloni again and warmly congratulated her on the successful co-chairing the 5th session of the Vietnam–EU Political Subcommittee alongside the Vietnamese delegation.
The Deputy Foreign Minister emphasized that the relationship between the two sides has been developing positively across all fields after 35 years of establishing diplomatic ties.
Notably, after five years of implementing the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), the EU is currently one of Vietnam's leading trade partners. Deputy Foreign Minister Thu Hang expressed her confidence that investment cooperation between the two sides will also see a breakthrough once the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) is fully ratified and enters into force.
Emphasizing the complex developments in global and regional situations, Deputy Foreign Minister Thu Hang suggested that the two sides further strengthen cooperation to promote a substantive, balanced, and mutually beneficial relationship — not only in traditional areas such as politics-diplomacy, trade-investment, and defence-security, but also in emerging fields like science-technology, green transition, digital transformation, renewable energy, high-quality human resource training, labour, vocational training, and sustainable fisheries development. She welcomed European enterprises to invest in Vietnam’s key projects in infrastructure, renewable energy, green transition, digital transformation, and environmental protection. She also noted that many Vietnamese businesses are interested in investing in various European countries.
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| The Deputy Foreign Minister affirmed that Vietnam attaches importance to and wishes to further develop relations with the EU, a leading important partner of Vietnam in the fields of economics - trade, development cooperation, environment, digital transformation, green transformation and regional security. (Photo: Quang Hoa) |
Updating the Deputy Foreign Minister on the outcomes of the recent session of the Vietnam - EU Political Subcommittee, Ms. Paola Pampaloni said that in a sincere and open atmosphere, both sides reviewed the current state of Vietnam-EU relations, updated each other on domestic developments, and discussed concrete directions for promoting future cooperation in a practical manner. Reaffirming that the EU is a reliable and stable partner, Ms. Pampaloni agreed that both sides should enhance coordination, especially through close cooperation between the European External Action Service and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam, focusing on key priorities such as increasing high-level exchanges and elevating Vietnam-EU relations to a new height, while promoting the implementation of EVFTA.
Recognizing Vietnam's efforts in combating illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, Ms. Pampaloni agreed to support promoting an objective assessment by the European Commission (EC) with a view to lifting the IUU yellow card on Vietnam’s seafood exports. She also affirmed the EU’s support in accelerating the ratification process of EVIPA.
In addition, the two sides exchanged views on current challenges to global trade as well as regional and international issues of mutual concern. On this occasion, the head of the EU delegation announced that the 4th Indo-Pacific Ministerial Forum is expected to take place in Brussels at the end of 2025 to further promote several cooperation projects within the framework of regional initiative
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| Deputy Foreign Minister Le Thi Thu Hang takes a group photo with participants at the meeting. (Photo: Quang Hoa) |
Earlier, on the morning of July 22, Ms. Paola Pampaloni led a working delegation from the European External Action Service to attend and co-chair the 5th session of the Vietnam - EU Political Subcommittee with Mr. Bui Ha Nam, Director General of the Europe Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
