PM opens ASEAN-EU Business Summit
(VOV) - Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has delivered an important speech to the third ASEAN-EU Business Summit (ASEAN-EU 2013), opened in Hanoi on March 9.
The summit is part of the 19th ASEAN Economic Ministers’ Retreat and the 12th ASEAN Economic Ministers and EU Trade Commissioner (AEM-EU) Consultations.
The summit’s participants also included EU Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht, Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang, ASEAN Secretary-General Le Luong Minh, and 600 representatives from leading ASEAN and EU businesses.
In his speech, PM Dung described the summit as a good opportunity for the ASEAN and EU business communities to foster cooperation and connectivity and pass on their recommendations to ASEAN and EU management agencies.
 |
The event is especially signifcant as ASEAN nears fulfilling the goal of building its community by 2015 while economic relations between ASEAN and the EU continue to develop.
The establishment of the ASEAN community, the regional body’s foremost priority, depends on the crucial pillar of the economic community. It will engender favourable conditions for investment capital circulation and trade exchange, creating business operation expansion opportunities and greatly benefiting the more than 600 million ASEAN people.
In conjunction with building the economic community, ASEAN is sparing no effort to deepen its integration with regional and global partners. Enhancing cooperation with the EU in the name of sustainable development and prosperity is a major focus.
The trade and commercial cooperation between the two blocs has grown steadily in spite of global economic doldrums. The EU is ASEAN’s second biggest trade partner and the source of its biggest foreign investment inflow. ASEAN is the EU’s third biggest trade partner.
The EU has also provided most of the technical support ASEAN received for its common development target and its experience has proven very valuable during ASEAN’s community-building process.
Dung said that as the coordinator of ASEAN-EU economic cooperation, Vietnam always supports propelling ASEAN-EU trade and investment to new heights. The EU and a number of ASEAN member states including Vietnam are accelerating bilateral free trade area (FTA) agreement negotiations that will serve as firm foundations for future comprehensive ASEAN-EU cooperation.
Vietnam welcomes and wants to encourage the business community’s involvement in ASEAN’s and the EU’s combined efforts to strengthen the relationship between the two blocs.
The business community’s activities and investment will significantly contribute to successful ASEAN-EU cooperation, Dung said.
 |
Sharing his views with PM Dung on the results of ASEAN-EU cooperation over the years, EU Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht affirmed the two blocs’ importance to each other.
Karel de Gucht said the governments of both regions need to work together on reducing trade barriers and facilitating business investment. It is essential to reach internal unanimity on negotiations between the EU and ASEAN.
The two blocs should coordinate with and support each other using Singapore’s model as inspiration.
Governments need to counsel businesses to ensure growth, fuel innovation, and apply technological advances, the EU Trade Commissioner noted.
The 3rd ASEAN-EU Business Summit is a high profile economic forum for foreign and domestic policymakers and international business leaders to discuss potential improvements in areas including the agricultural economy, automobile industry, financial services, information technology, infrastructure/connectivity, and pharmaceuticals.