Vietnamese leaders have actively promoted the country’s image, thereby boosting foreign trade and investment, focused on improving legal environment and recognised shortcomings for adopting optimal development policies, said Ambassador Sean Doyle, Head of the EU Delegation to Vietnam while launching the 2010 year’s version of the Green Book on July 7 in Hanoi.

He affirmed that the EU remained top trading and investment partner to Vietnam in 2009, the second largest export market for Vietnamese goods and the second largest investor in term of implemented FDI despite the economic downturn.

The EU continued to be the most important overseas market for Vietnamese footwear and seafood, importing footwear worth US$1.9 billion and seafood worth US$1.1 billion from Vietnam. Disbursement of the EU’s total investment reached more than US$8 billion in 2009.

The Green Book 2010, or “2010 EU Trade Counsellors Report”, is an annual publication jointly produced by the Delegation of the European Union to Vietnam and the Hanoi-based Embassies of EU Member States. It presents an insigh into Vietnam’s economic and trade developments during 2009 and the first quarter of 2010 and offers an expert view on a number of key sectors in the Vietnamese economy.

The report covers issues related to legal environment, main production and exports, including weaknesses in the economy which has been affected by the global crisis and its own need for swift re-structuring, in particular, of SOEs, to bring about sustainable growth and increased competitiveness. Imbalance of the national accounts, re-emerging inflation, and a widening trade deficit are the greatest challenges that Vietnam faced in 2009 and continue to face 2010, according to the report.

The launching took place after the eighth round of negotiations on the Partnership Cooperation Agreement (PCA) between Vietnam and the EU ended on July 6 in Hanoi.