President of European Council to visit Viet Nam

The visit will be made at the invitation of Vietnamese State President Luong Cuong.

Last May, President of the European Council Antonio Costa congratulated Viet Nam on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the liberation of the South and national reunification (April 30, 1975-2025) during his phone conversation with General Secretary To Lam. Antonio Costa noted with pleasure that the bilateral relationship is developing dynamically and robustly in all areas, affirming Viet Nam is a major partner of the EU in Southeast Asia and the EU-Viet Nam relationship deserves being elevated to a new level. The two leaders agreed that Viet Nam and the EU need to strengthen cooperation at multilateral forums, contributing to ensuring peace, stability and security in the world, supporting the settlement of disputes in the East Sea by peaceful means, in accordance with international law. 

General Secretary To respectfully invited Costa to visit Viet Nam at a suitable time, and the latter accepted the invitation with pleasure.

Viet Nam and the European Union (EU) officially established diplomatic relations on November 28, 1990. In 1996, the EU opened the Delegation of the European Commission (EC) in Ha Noi.

Viet Nam and the EU currently have four bilateral agreements in force: (i) the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Partnership and Cooperation (PCA); (ii) the EU–Viet Nam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA); (iii) the Voluntary Partnership Agreement on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (VPA/FLEGT); and (iv) the Framework Participation Agreement (FPA) on establishing a framework for Viet Nam’s participation in EU crisis management activities.

So far, 21 out of 27 EU member states have ratified the EU–Viet Nam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA). The six EU member states that have not yet ratified EVIPA are Ireland, Austria, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, and Slovenia.

There are eight cooperation and dialogue mechanisms between Viet Nam and the EU, including: the Viet Nam–EU Joint Committee for the implementation of the PCA and its three subordinate sub-committees (Political Affairs; Sustainable Development; Good Governance, Rule of Law and Human Rights); the EVFTA Trade Committee; the annual Human Rights Dialogue; the Defence and Security Dialogue; and the dialogue mechanism between the National Assembly of Viet Nam and the European Parliament.

As of last December, two-way trade turnover reached over US$66.8 billion, up 6.6 percent year-on-year. The EU is Viet Nam’s fourth-largest trading partner (after China, the U.S., and the Republic of Korea), the third-largest export market (after China and the United States), and the fifth-largest import market (after China, the Republic of Korea, Japan, and Taiwan (China)). Viet Nam is the EU’s 16th-largest trading partner and its largest trading partner within ASEAN.

Total EU foreign direct investment (FDI) in Viet Nam valued US$30 billion (excluding investment via third parties), making the EU sixth out of 140 countries and territories investing in Viet Nam. Viet Nam currently has 98 investment projects in the EU, with total registered capital of US$434.88 million./.