Vietnam, EU Strive to Complete PCA Negotiations Late 2010

Vietnam and the European Union (EU) are striving to complete negotiations on a Partnership and Comprehensive Cooperation Agreement (PCA) before the year-end in an effort to mark the two sides’ 20th anniversary of diplomatic ties.

The 7th negotiation round, chaired by Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son and the European Commission’s Director for Asia James Moran, concluded in Belgium’s Brussels May 21.

During the round, the two sides focused on their remained differences in some issues, including principles on cooperation in trade and investment, trade consultation, the technical barriers to trade agreement (TBT), the sanitary and phytosanitary measures agreement (SPS), the intellectual property right (IPR), tariff, labor and job, migration, education, health, and natural disaster mitigation and prevention.

The next negotiation round will be held in Hanoi in July.

The EU currently is Vietnam’s second largest importer after the U.S. The two-way trade fell 6.67% from a year earlier to US$15.2 billion in 2009.

Tags: Partnership and Comprehensive Cooperation Agreement, Vietnam EU cooperation

Posted by VBN on May 26 2010. Filed under Int'l Cooperation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry