Ambassador Igor Driesmans, Head of the EU Delegation to ASEAN talks to Vietnamese media agencies. Photo: Huu Chien/VNA

Talking to the Vietnamese press in Indonesia on Wednesday, two days before Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s official visits to Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Belgium for the ASEAN-EU Commemorative Summit marking the 45th anniversary of ASEAN-EU ties, Driesmans said that Vietnam is a Southeast Asian country with which the EU has very close relations and the EU-Vietnam cooperation institutional framework is currently robust.

According to the Ambassador, the EU and Vietnam have signed a free trade agreement, which has now come into force. The two sides also have a political cooperation agreement and a defense cooperation agreement on establishing a framework for Vietnam's participation in other civilian or peacekeeping operations in Europe.

Commenting on the first EU-ASEAN Summit scheduled for December 14, Ambassador Driesmans said 27 heads of states and heads of government plus two institutional presidents of the EU meeting with ASEAN leaders is historic and has never happened before.