Belgium's King Philippe has met with top Vietnamese leaders in Hanoi to discuss enhancing cooperation in various sectors, including the ratification of the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA).

As part of his five-day state visit to Vietnam from March 31 to April 4, King Philippe held talks with Party General Secretary To Lam, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, and National Assembly (NA) chairman Tran Thanh Man in Hanoi on Tuesday.

During his meeting with NA Chairman Man, which focused on steps to boost bilateral cooperation, King Philippe agreed that the two countries need to continue deepening ties in high-tech fields, semiconductors, green energy, precision engineering, sustainable agriculture, education and training, tourism, and local cooperation.

In discussions about the EVIPA, the Belgian monarch confirmed that the agreement would benefit both nations and Belgium is in the final stages of ratifying it.

Approved by the European Parliament and Vietnam’s National Assembly in 2020, EVIPA will replace 21 existing bilateral investment protection agreements between Vietnam and EU member states. 

However, it still requires ratification by all EU member state parliaments before it can officially take effect. Once fully ratified, it will serve as a key to unlocking greater investment flows from Europe to Vietnam.

During the meeting, Chairman Man also highly appreciated Belgium for being the first country to pass a resolution supporting victims of Agent Orange (AO) in Vietnam.

He expressed hope that both nations would actively implement specific projects related to AO decontamination in Vietnam.

The Belgian king emphasized that Belgium, with its experience, is ready to assist Vietnam in cleaning up areas affected by AO.

Later in the afternoon, King Philippe met with Party General Secretary To Lam, who expressed deep appreciation for Belgium's valuable support, as well as for the personal contributions of King Philippe and Queen Mathilde to Vietnam and bilateral relations.

To match the potential of their positive political ties, Lam emphasized the need to deepen cooperation in areas such as trade, investment, agriculture, high-quality human resource training, culture, and people-to-people exchanges. 

He also stressed the importance of enhancing cooperation in science, technology, and innovation, particularly in sharing Belgium's business development models within its university environment. Lam believed this would help Vietnam achieve its development goals by 2030 and 2045.

The Party chief also called for facilitating tourism and trade exchanges between the two countries and urged Belgium to promptly ratify the EVIPA to help increase investment flows from the EU and Belgium to Vietnam and vice versa.

Agreeing with Lam’s suggestions, King Philippe emphasized that given their geographical positions at the heart of Europe and Southeast Asia, both countries should work together as gateways to each other’s regions.

Proud of Belgium’s contributions to Vietnam’s socio-economic development, King Philippe underscored that his country is keen to expand cooperation in various fields, including education, defense, security, renewable energy, healthcare, and environmental protection.

King Philippe also met with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on the same afternoon, where the two leaders agreed on the need to deepen cooperation in traditional sectors such as economics, culture, arts, tourism, and inter-provincial cooperation.

The Belgian king praised Vietnam's role in the region and expressed a desire to strengthen their relationship in other areas such as education, healthcare, seaports, green energy, science, technology, and innovation.

The two sides also discussed improving the effectiveness of their strategic partnership in agriculture, which was established in 2018, particularly in addressing non-traditional challenges such as climate change, natural disasters, and epidemics. 

Both parties agreed to create favorable conditions for businesses from both countries to enhance investment and business activities in Vietnam and Belgium.

PM Chinh further proposed accelerating cooperation in high-tech industries, the circular economy, strategic infrastructure, and human resource development.

He also urged Belgium to quickly ratify the EVIPA and work with the European Commission to remove the ‘yellow card’ warning on Vietnamese seafood exports for illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

During the meeting, Prime Minister Chinh extended an invitation to Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever to visit Vietnam at an appropriate time.

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