Vietnam And EU Formally Initiate Negotiations On Partner Agreements

According to Vietnam's Xigong Liberation Daily reported on November 27th, the chairman of the European Commission, Barroso, and Vietnam's prime minister Ranjig, who are visiting Vietnam, announced on the 26 day that the two sides will formally initiate negotiations on the partnership agreement, so as to lay the foundation for the signing of the EU and ASEAN Free Trade Agreement in the future.

According to reports, during the visit, Barroso and Ranjig held talks.

The European side said it would provide 340 million euro loans to Vietnam for 2007-2013 years to promote Vietnam's health and education development.

The two sides agreed to establish a dialogue mechanism between the Vietnamese Prime Minister and the chairman of the European Commission and the Vietnamese foreign minister and the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Commission, so as to vigorously promote bilateral cooperation in the fields of economy, trade and investment, so that bilateral trade volume increased from 12 billion US dollars this year to US $15 billion in 2010.

The European Union also pledged to give Vietnam preferential tax rates (GSP).

In addition to the current anti-dumping measures against Vietnamese leather shoes, the EU will no longer carry out anti-dumping investigations and anti-dumping actions against any other products from Vietnam.