EU Farm Chief Leads High-level Business Mission to Vietnam

 

On his visit to Vietnam, Commissioner Hogan also met with senior officials, including Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc to discuss links with the EU in the agriculture and food trade sector, based on the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement.

 

Commissioner Hogan said, "The recently concluded EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement offers tremendous opportunities for both Vietnamese and European producers to find growing markets for our high quality produce.  People trust our products, and value their quality. That is why our global exports are increasing year by year. Agri-food exports reached €129 billion in 2015, making us the No. 1 agri-food exporter worldwide.Our trade performance continues to be a real good news story for the EU agri-food sector."

 

"We are very confident that the Vietnamese consumer will be impressed by the quality and diversity of our products.  The EU has the highest quality standards in the world for food, including our high-quality meat and dairy, our excellent fruit and vegetables, and also our world-class system for geographical indication products. We believe these products can boost your sales right here in Vietnam, generating further growth and jobs for your people.", Commissioner Hogan added.

 

It is also fabulous to see that not only Vietnamese people are increasingly interested in the European agri-food products, but also a growing number of European consumers are keen to discover Vietnam's exotic offer in the agri-food sector. The impressive growth of Vietnamese products' in the EU single market in recent years, shown by the nearly 20 billion euros of trade surplus that Vietnam had in 2015 (much of which was in the agri-food area), best demonstrates Vietnam's enormous potential. Such potential will be fully optimised with the enforcement of the bilateral FTA and complete tariff dismantling starting in early 2018.

 

In 2015, EU-Vietnam trade in goods was worth over €38.4 billion, with €29.9 billion in imports from Vietnam into the EU, €8.4 billion in exports from the EU to Vietnam. In 2015, Vietnam ranked 21st among EU’s trading partners. Conversely, the EU was Vietnam’s 2nd largest trading partner of Vietnam after China. The EU28 was also the 2nd largest overseas market for Vietnamese products after the USA. Vietnam has become the EU’s second largest trade partner in ASEAN after Singapore and ahead of Malaysia.

 

The Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development is responsible for managing the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy, a policy for the 500 million citizens of the 28 EU member states.  His mission is to increase links between the EU and Vietnam in the area of agri - food trade, building on the recent conclusion of negotiations for a EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement.