Vietnam, EU conclude the eighth round of PCA talks

Vietnam and the European Union wrapped up the eighth round of a new Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) in Hanoi on July 5.

High on the agenda of the two-day talks were a number of important articles of the agreement, including migration, legal cooperation, market economy status, Generalized System of Preferences, taxation, labor and employment.

The two sides did not reach an agreement in a clause relating the EU’s recognition of the Vietnamese market economy.

Both sides are moving to ratify the new PCA, which will supplant the earlier agreement, drawn up in 1995.

If the PCA is signed this year, it will be even more significant, as the year marks the twentieth anniversary of Vietnam-EU diplomatic ties and the fifteenth anniversary of the Framework Agreement on Vietnam-EUCooperation, said James Moran, the head of the EU delegation.

He said the two sides would still have to negotiate several issues like migration, human rights and legal cooperation.

The Vietnamese delegation was led by Deputy Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son.

Vietnam and the EU concluded the first round of talks on the PCA in June 2008.

Ties between the two have shown marked growth since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1990. The EU is now one of Vietnam’s top trading partners and, as a bloc, is one of the biggest providers of Official Development Assistance to the country.

Source: Tuoi Tre