Vietnamese Ambassador to Belgium, Head of the Vietnamese Delegation to the European Union (EU) Nguyen Van Thao. (Photo: Tuan Anh)

At the invitation of Vice President of the European Commission and High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Joseph Borrell, Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son attended the 3rd Indo-Pacific Ministerial Forum (IPMF) and the 24th ASEAN-EU Foreign Ministers' Meeting (AEMM), combined with a working visit to Belgium from January 31 to February 2.

On this occasion, Vietnamese Ambassador to Belgium, Head of the Vietnamese Delegation to the European Union (EU) Nguyen Van Thao had an interview with The World & Vietnam ahead of the 3rd IPMF and the 24th AEMM.

Could you share the significance and key contents of the 24th ASEAN-EU Foreign Ministers' Meeting (AEMM) and the Indo-Pacific Ministerial Forum (IPMF) held on February 2?

The 3rd Indo-Pacific Ministerial Forum was held on February 2 in Brussels (Belgium) with the participation of nearly 70 delegations including EU members, more than 40 Indo-Pacific countries and representatives of several major international organizations, led by Deputy Prime Ministers, Ministers, Vice Ministers, Secretaries General... of Foreign Ministries.

The Forum is an EU initiative from 2022, an important mechanism for the EU and the entire Indo-Pacific region to frankly exchange and share assessments of new developments and trends in the world; review achievements and propose new directions and prospects for cooperation connecting the two regions of Europe-India-Pacific, thereby strengthening solidarity and coordination to solve common global issues.

This forum includes an opening and closing session and three parallel roundtable discussions with the main topics: Shared prosperity, economic resilience and investment; Green transformation – partnership for a sustainable future; and Geostrategic and security challenges in the Indo-Pacific region. The Vietnamese delegation was led by Party Central Committee member and Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son.

At the Conference, Minister Bui Thanh Son will participate and speak at the discussion session on “Green Transformation”. This is one of the key areas with great potential and high priority in Vietnam-EU cooperation. Green and sustainable transformation is an inevitable development trend of the world economy, and is also the development orientation of Vietnam set out by the Party and State.

Vietnam is a country heavily affected by climate change and environmental pollution. Solving this problem requires strong cooperation from the international community; in which cooperation with the EU, the world's leading partner in climate change and green transformation, not only helps Vietnam minimize the impact of climate change but more importantly, enhances the adaptability and sustainable development of the entire economy, having an overarching impact on all people, businesses and society. Green transformation cooperation is also comprehensive in many important areas in our development priorities, such as green economy, circular economy, digital economy, marine economy, etc.

As for the EU, this is an area where the EU has leading strengths and is promoting international cooperation with diverse partners, both due to the bloc's need to diversify supply chains, minimize risks, and implement a green development strategy; and to enhance its global role and position. The international community and the EU highly appreciate Vietnam's strong and practical commitments and actions, including its commitments to reduce emissions and its participation in the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP).

In October 2023, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha attended the Global Gateway Forum (GGF) organized by the EU in Brussels (Belgium), emphasizing Vietnam's priority in green growth, which was highly welcomed by the EU and participating countries. The EU emphasized its desire to cooperate strongly with Vietnam to build a "model" of new cooperation between the EU and the Indo-Pacific region in this important field.

On the same day, February 2, the 24th ASEAN-EU Foreign Ministers' Meeting will take place. This is the first time in 5 years and since the Covid-19 pandemic that the Foreign Ministers of ASEAN and EU countries have met in person (in December 2020, Vietnam chaired the 23rd ASEAN-EU Ministerial Meeting online; previously, the 22nd ASEAN-EU Ministerial Meeting was held in person in Brussels in January 2019).

The friendship and cooperation between Vietnam and Belgium have developed positively in many areas, especially after the official visit to Belgium by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (December 2022). In 2023, the two sides will also celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations and the 5th anniversary of the Strategic Partnership on Agriculture. What are the prospects for cooperation in the coming time, both in bilateral relations as well as in the international arena and multilateral forums, Ambassador? What will be the focus of cooperation between the two sides in the coming years?

Vietnam-Belgium relations have developed remarkably in recent times, especially after the very successful official visit to Belgium by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (December 2022). Leaders and people of the two countries have become closely linked through a series of high-level visits and contacts, notably the delegations to Vietnam of the President of the Belgian Federal Senate (August 2023), the Minister-President of the Flanders Region, Belgium and a business delegation (September 2023), and a business delegation from the Walloon region (December 2023).

Delegations to Belgium include Permanent Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Tran Thanh Man (November 2023), ministries and sectors such as the Ministry of Planning and Investment (February 2023), the Ministry of Finance (July 2023), the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (September 2023), the Ministry of Industry and Trade (December 2023), as well as delegations of leaders of other localities and agencies. It is expected that in 2024, the King of Belgium will pay an official visit to Vietnam, which will be the King's only visit outside the EU this year.

These visits, together with the recent economic connectivity, trade promotion and investment activities, are a solid foundation for the two sides to effectively exploit the potential for cooperation. Belgium is currently a strategic partner of Vietnam in the agricultural sector, but in addition to agriculture, Belgium is also a country with outstanding strengths in infrastructure, seaports, energy (hydrogen), healthcare and pharmaceuticals. These are very important areas, meeting our needs and your capabilities, and we need to actively take advantage of opportunities to expand and deepen economic, trade and investment cooperation.

Belgium is the current EU President for the first 6 months of 2024, and is also one of the founding members, with a role and voice in the EU. Recently at WEF Davos, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh also met with Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo in his role as EU President. Therefore, in addition to bilateral cooperation between Vietnam and Belgium, we need to strengthen coordination with Belgium to promote Vietnam-EU relations.

Although there is the EVFTA “highway” and the EU is also the region where Vietnam has the most representative offices abroad, in a sharing, he once admitted that the value of Vietnam's exports to this market is only quite modest, about 1.7% of the EU's total imports of up to 3,000 billion Euros. Why is that? What do we need to do to improve this number and make Vietnamese goods more present in the EU market?

Promoting economic cooperation in general and trade and investment in particular between Vietnam and the EU needs to be renewed and strengthened in the coming time. The EU is an important economic partner, with high technology, source technology and a market with large import demand, diverse goods, especially those in which Vietnam has strengths such as essential goods and consumer goods.

This import demand is stable, has high prices, and large profit margins. Vietnam has the advantage of being one of four Asian countries that have a Free Trade Agreement with the EU (EVFTA). The EU also identifies Vietnam as an important partner and wishes to cooperate to diversify the supply chain and minimize risks.

However, cooperation with the EU also has many challenges: the EU market is a high-standard market with a complex legal system; long geographical distances, high transportation and logistics costs; and differences in consumer culture and development levels.

Vietnamese goods need to meet EU standards and regulations, especially new regulations such as anti-deforestation, carbon standards, accountability... which will strongly impact Vietnam's key export groups and affect the benefits from EVFTA.

New regulations such as anti-deforestation, carbon standards, accountability... will strongly impact Vietnam's key export groups and affect the benefits from EVFTA. (Source: Finance Magazine)

Accordingly, Vietnam needs to have a comprehensive and systematic strategy to effectively promote trade and investment in the coming time, including: Clearly identifying the needs and areas we want to cooperate in, focusing on products and areas in which we have competitive advantages, have spillover effects, have the ability to create breakthroughs and have cooperation needs; Clearly identifying locations and potential partners to effectively promote trade and investment, minimize risks and unnecessary costs; Promoting specialized trade and investment promotion activities in the EU market to create mutual understanding and connection between businesses of the two countries; At the same time, there must be implementation activities, maintaining contact and follow-up activities to maintain the momentum of cooperation.

With a strong system of representative agencies in Europe, the Embassy, ​​Delegation and representative agencies are ready to coordinate with ministries, local sectors and businesses to promote Vietnam-EU relations in the coming time.