Luong Thanh Nghi, spokesperson for Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs

(VOVworld) – Vietnam has underlined the significance of the European Free Trade Association’s recognizing Vietnamese market economy and has began negotiating a Free Trade Agreement with it. Luong Thanh Nghi, a spokesperson for Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs talked about the decision at a press briefing in Hanoi on Thursday. Nghi says ‘The EFTA’s recognizing Vietnam’s market economic status, along with starting negotiating a free trade agreement, is a significant step in the right direction for strengthening relationsh between Vietnam and the bloc.  EFTA includes Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, and Liechtenstein. This is particularly significant to trade and economics as it has created a new legal framework to expand and deepen relations for our mutual benefit. This move reflects the active support of the international community for Vietnam’s renewal process, market economy mechanism, socialism orientations, and its international integration’.

Nghi also answered questions about Vietnam’s proposals on recent disputes in the East Sea which will be submitted to the forthcoming ASEAN Summit in Cambodia. He stated that peace, stability, security and maritime safety in the East Sea is a common concern for all the bloc’s members and other countries in the region as well as the world at large. ASEAN’s united stance is to settle all conflicts the basis of international law, specifically the 1982 UN Convention on the law of the sea, and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea. As a member of ASEAN, Vietnam will make every effort to ensure the region’s peace and stability.