European experts upbeat about Vietnam’s economic prospects

Addressing the meeting, Xavier Nutin of the European Institute for Asian Studies (EIAS) highly valued Vietnam’s political stability as well as its impressive economic development, particularly with the COVID-19 pandemic brought under control.

He emphasized that the European Union is currently the sixth largest investor in Vietnam and Vietnam is also an important economic and trade partner of the EU. According to the senior expert, Vietnam is a potential market for raw materials and for selling raw materials, therefore it should focus on developing technology for processing agricultural products for export because Vietnamese agricultural products are selling well in Europe.

Vietnam possesses abundant and creative human resources that are also attractive to European businesses, he noted, adding the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) is the driving force for the growing cooperation and investment relationship between the two sides.

Meanwhile, Axel Goethals, CEO of the European Institute for Asian Studies, said Vietnam holds an important position for Europe in the Asia-Pacific region.

Given the current changing geopolitical landscape, Vietnam increasingly asserts its key role in the region as well as in Southeast Asia, having long built trust with many countries worldwide. This is the strength of Vietnam in establishing relations with partners, including the EU, he stressed.

Despite bearing the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic, he said Vietnam’s economy has shown its brilliant resilience and kept up and running. He suggested that Vietnam should develop small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) that make a practical contribution to its economic growth, reasoning SMEs plays an important role in the economic-trade relationship with the EU.

The CEO expressed his belief that in the future Vietnam’s economy would continue to grow strongly and be an attractive destination for many investors around the world.

In his speech, Ngo Le Van, deputy head of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for External Relations, reiterated Vietnam’s consistent policy of making industry a driving force for economic development, creating jobs and contributing to the accomplishment of the goals of industrialization and modernization set forth by 2030 and 2045.

He also voiced Vietnam’s commitments to sustainable development, environmental protection, and climate change response toward achieving the net zero carbon emissions target by 2050.

With regard to the current military conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the Party official reaffirmed Vietnam’s consistent stance on settling international disputes by peaceful means on the basis of respect for international law.