Brussels (VNA) – Vietnam and Belgium will continue working to strengthenand deepen cooperative ties in various sectors, particularly in economy, tradeand investment.

The agreement was made during the fifth meeting of the Vietnam-Belgium jointcommittee on economic cooperation, co-chaired by Vietnamese Deputy Minister ofPlanning and Investment Vu Dai Thang and Belgian Deputy Minister of ForeignAffairs, Development Cooperation & Foreign Trade Bruno Vander Luijm, inBrussels on November 6.

During the event, both sides agreed that Vietnam and Belgium have enjoyedrobust economic cooperation following their previous meeting in 2017.

Thang spoke highly of efforts made by the two nations to promote comprehensivecooperation across trade, investment, development collaboration, education-training,science-technology and agriculture.

Notable deals between the two countries include a strategic cooperationagreement on agriculture, and a bilateral cooperation deal between theVietnamese Government and authorities of the Flanders region, which werereached during PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s visit to the European country in October2018.

Belgium is currently the sixth largest trade partner of Vietnam in the EU, withtwo-way trade in 2018 reaching 2.88 billion USD, of which the trade value ofagricultural produce accounted for 413 million USD. Vietnam exports seafood,coffee, cashew, rice and wood products to Belgium, and imports milk and dairyproducts, animal feed and pesticide.

Vietnam has opened door for Belgian beef and pears, and Vietnamese fruit and vegetableshave gained access to the Belgian market.

Thang and Luijm spoke highly of trade ties between Vietnam and Flanders,Wallonia-Brussels, and Brussels.

Regarding the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the EU-VietnamInvestment Protection Agreement (IPA), Thang expressed his hope that Belgium,with its important role in the EU, will offer further support to encourage the EUto adopt the trade pacts.

In the framework of their strategic partnership agreement on agriculture, bothsides reached a consensus on close coordination to facilitate trade, set uptrade exchange mechanisms, and boost shipments of agricultural products. Theyalso agreed to develop value chains for coffee, cocoa, husbandry, seafood andvegetables.

Touching on investment cooperation, Belgium ranked 23th out of 132 countriesand territories investing in the Southeast Asian nation, with registeredcapital of 1.03 billion USD in 70 projects as of September 30, 2019. Most of theprojects are in real estate, water supply, sewage treatment, processing andmanufacturing, and power production.

During the meeting, the Vietnamese side asked the Belgian Government and authoritiesof the Flanders, Wallonia-Brussels and Brussels regions to encourage moreBelgian enterprises to invest in Vietnam. The Belgian side affirmed itsinterest in investment opportunities in Vietnam.

Regarding development cooperation, organisations in Vietnam and the BelgianDevelopment Agency (ENABEL) had completed 12 projects using non-refundablecapital funded by the Belgian Government under the Indicative CooperationProgramme (ICP) from 2011-2015.

The Belgian side said that bilateral development cooperation will open newcollaborative channels for both nations through non-governmental organisations,regions, universities and research institutes./.