EU countries are importing about EUR35 billion worth of fruit and vegetables each year, accounting for 40% of the global value, said Tran Van Cong, Vietnam's agricultural counsellor in Europe.
According to Vietnamese Ambassador to the Netherlands Pham Viet Anh, the Netherlands is not a big market, but it has an important position with many European wholesalers.
As such, if Vietnam can increase the production area and meet the market standards, it is a potential channel for Vietnamese fruit and vegetables to enter Europe, emphasised Anh.
For his part, Vietnamese Ambassador to Austria Nguyen Trung Kien highlighted food safety and environmental protection as the factors that European consumers attach importance to.
According to Nguyen Dinh Tung, Chairman of Vina T&T Group, the EU market accepts Vietnamese fruit and vegetables without the need for negotiation but there are no EU quality control representatives in Vietnam, making it difficult to export to this market.
Speaking at the workshop, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan noted that there is great potential for Vietnamese fruit and vegetable exports to the EU.
He asked the ambassadors to provide enterprises with sufficient information and help promote Vietnamese agricultural products to EU consumers through trade fairs and other events.
The minister suggested establishing an alliance of exporters to the EU to help Vietnamese agricultural products penetrate deeper, adding that an overall strategy is needed in order to boost fruit and vegetable exports to the EU.
