Prodi meets a top-level Vietnamese delegation

03/06/2000 (Agence Europe)

In Brussels on Saturday 27 May, European Commission President Romano Prodi met a Vietnamese delegation led by the Secretary General of the Communist Party Le Kha Phieu and made up of Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, and Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nien. A Commission press release states that the first official meeting between Mr. Prodi and Secretary-General Phieu enabled both parties to express "strong commitment" in favour of "continuing and strengthening an already healthy relationship, including support from the EU Commission for Vietnam's reform process and preparations for Vietnam's joining the WTO. These - and other issues - will be taken up in a meeting of the EU/Vietnam Joint Commission in Hanoi next autumn, which is expected to agree guidelines for an enhanced cooperation strategy for the next five years." The press release states that talks also centered around the role of Vietnam as next presidency-in-office of ASEAN.

You may recall that the EU and Vietnam normalised relations in November 1990, and that a Cooperation Framework Agreement was signed in July 1995. Since 1990, the Commission has provided Vietnam with subsidies for over 250 million euro, intended to support economic reform and the development of the social sector.

Noting that "no signal from Vietnam has confirmed a positive development, even the slightest, on the part of the regime in place" Olivier Dupuis MEP (Bonino List) wondered, in a press release, whether these talks were a "starting point for a reversal of the extremely critical position the Union has so far held regarding Vietnam".