Vietnam attends ASEAN-EU Ministerial Meeting in Brussels

At the meeting, both sides affirmed their importance to the ASEAN-EU strategic partnership established during Vietnam’s ASEAN Chairmanship Year 2020, and at the same time acknowledged the positive developments in their relationship in recent times.

ASEAN Foreign Ministers affirmed that the EU is one of ASEAN’s most important partners, making a positive contribution to the process of building the ASEAN Community. They the EU’s desire to strengthen cooperation with the Indo-Pacific region, including ASEAN, through strategies and initiatives such as the EU-Indo Pacific Strategy, the Global Gateway Initiative, the Sustainable Connectivity Team Europe Initiative, and the Green Deal.

Meanwhile, EU Foreign Ministers affirmed their support for ASEAN’s central role, and emphasized that in the current complex world context, stronger cooperation between ASEAN and the EU is inevitable. They proposed strengthening comprehensive cooperation, regular dialogue and consultation, continuing to negotiate free trade agreements (FTAs) with other ASEAN member states, after having reached the FTAs with Vietnam and Singapore.

The two sides agreed to effectively implement the joint leaders’ statement of the ASEAN-EU Commemorative Summit 2022 and the Action Plan for the 2023-2027 period, with priority given to enhancing economic-trade-investment cooperation, maintaining the supply chain, promoting climate change response, ensuring food security and energy security, while expanding cooperation into new potential fields such as digital economy, innovation, green economy, and green services towards establishing an ASEAN-EU FTA in the future.

Exchanging regional and international issues of mutual concern, the two sides agreed that in the context of global complications and uncertainties, ASEAN and the EU need to strengthen cooperation to maintain a peaceful and stable environment for development, uphold multilateralism, comply with international law, promote dialogue and cooperation, and peacefully resolve disputes and conflicts, especially in hot spots such as Ukraine, the Middle East, and the Korean Peninsula.

The Foreign Ministers also reaffirmed the importance of ensuring peace, stability, security, and maritime and aviation safety in maritime zones, including the East Sea, in line with international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Addressing the meeting, Vietnamese Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son shared the ministers’ assessments about the positive progress in the ASEAN-EU strategic partnership and put forward a number of measures to strengthen ASEAN-EU cooperation in the coming time.

He underscored the need to effectively implement agreements reached at the ASEAN-EU Commemorative Summit 2022, especially those on economics, trade, investment, sustainable development and cooperation, while promoting new growth drivers such as digital transformation, energy transformation, green economy and circular economy.

He called on the remaining EU member states to soon ratify the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA), and more effectively deploy existing cooperation frameworks, including the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA). He requested the EU to support Vietnam in mobilizing resources to deploy the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP).

The Minister reaffirmed the stance of Vietnam and ASEAN on the East Sea, calling on EU member states to support ASEAN and China’s efforts in fully and effectively implementing the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), and building a practical, effective Code of Conduct in the waters (COC) in accordance with international law, including UNCLOS 1982.

The Foreign Ministers of ASEAN and the EU adopted a joint statement at the end of the meeting.