EU seeks more balanced trade with Vietnam, Sefcovic says

HANOI (Reuters) -The European Union is seeking more balanced trade with Vietnam, Maros Sefcovic, the EU trade commissioner, said on Friday at the end of his visit to southeast Asia.

"I value the commitment shown and look forward to jointly tackling remaining barriers and moving forward toward more balanced trade," Sefcovic told reporters in Hanoi.

Sefcovic said Vietnam's exports to the EU had risen 60% compared with a 10% increase of EU exports since the EU-Vietnam free trade agreement entered force in 2020 and called on Vietnam to simplify procedures for agriculture imports from the bloc.

"I proposed the simplification measure to our Vietnamese partners, that if the permit is given for (a) particular agriculture commodity in one of the EU member states, it should be automatically issued for the rest of the EU member states because we have the same regulations, same controls and same standards," he said.

He also encouraged Vietnam to accept international standards for cars.

Sefcovic added that he had discussed boosting cooperation in investment with the Vietnamese trade minister during his visit.

(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio and Khanh Vu in Hanoi; Writing by Makini Brice; editing by Bart Meijer and Philip Blenkinsop)