Press Release: EU launches negotiations for new Partnership and Co-operation Agreement with Vietnam

Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy Benita Ferrero-Waldner met with Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mr Pham Gia Khiem in the margins of the ASEM Foreign Ministers meeting in Hamburg on 28 May 2007. They agreed to launch negotiations for a new Partnership and Co-operation Agreement between the EU and Vietnam replacing the 1995 cooperation agreement, and reviewed recent developments in the bilateral relationship, including in the area of human rights.