ASEAN-EU senior officials' meeting convenes in Vietnam

The ASEAN-EU Senior Officials' Meeting (ASEAN-EU SOM) kicked off in Vietnam's southern Ho Chi Minh City on Wednesday to review and discuss measures in enhancing relations and cooperation between the two blocs, state-run Vietnam News Agency reported. The meeting, a regular policy consultancy get-together in the framework of the ASEAN-EU negotiation relations, was also aimed at preparing for the ASEAN-EU Ministers' Conference to be held in early July this year in Brunei. The meeting was co-chaired by Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister Pham Quang Vinh and director of the Asia-Pacific region under the EU's Foreign Agency, Viorel Budura. Participants to the meeting highly evaluated the ASEAN-EU Enhanced Partnership as well as development in negotiation relations and cooperation between the two blocs in recent years, including the implementation of the ASEAN-EU Action Plan in the 2007-2012 period. Currently, EU is ASEAN's second largest trade partner, with two- way trade valued at 235 billion U.S. dollars. The EU countries ranked top in terms of investment in ASEAN, with a total input of 230 billion dollars. In the coming years, ASEAN and EU will prioritize and concentrate resources to effectively implement the ASEAN-EU Action Plan for 2013-2017 period and the Program on Trade and Investment during 2013-2014, among other plans. As a coordinator of the ASEAN-EU negotiation relations during the 2012-2015 period, Vietnam is always active in cooperating with member countries of the EU and ASEAN, contributing to lifting the partnership and cooperation between the two blocs to a new height, for peace, stability and development in the region, said the Vietnamese deputy foreign minister.