The European Union (EU) will join efforts with Vietnam to soon complete the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations, said EU Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht in Vietnam's capital Hanoi on Thursday.

Karel de Gucht made the statement when meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung ahead of the 19th ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM) Retreat and the 12th AEM-EU Consultations to be held in Hanoi on Friday.

The EU is looking forward to further cooperation with Vietnam and other ASEAN member countries, said Commissioner de Gucht.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, for his part, affirmed that Vietnam wishes to strengthen the bilateral trade relations with EU.

The prime minister believed that with the joint effort and political will, the EU-Vietnam FTA negotiations could be completed at the end of this year.

Vietnam and EU established diplomatic ties in 1990. Endi