EU, Vietnam negotiate new partnership

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HANOI, Nov 26 (Reuters): The European Union and Vietnam opened talks today on an agreement covering everything from trade and human rights to climate change and epidemics.
Officials said the pact would allow an expansion in economic ties between the 27-member EU and Hanoi and it would precede a future free trade agreement between the EU and the Association of South East Asian Nations. Communist-ruled Vietnam is one of 10 ASEAN members.
The EU was Hanoi's largest trading partner, accounting for 17 per cent of all foreign trade in 2006.
A joint statement officially opening negotiations for the "Partnership and Cooperation Agreement" between the EU and Vietnam did not say when it was expected to be finalised.
Visiting European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung appeared together to make statements to the media, but they did not take questions.
Dung said the two sides wanted to increase trade to $15 billion by 2010 from about $13 billion in 2006.
In a statement before his visit Barroso said, "the time has now come to establish a closer political partnership between the EU and Vietnam, enabling us to tackle more effectively some common global challenges".
He said these included climate change, managing increasing global competition, migration, fighting poverty, preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and countering international terrorism.
Barroso is visiting several Asian countries and Tuesday he travels to China for a China-EU summit and then India.