Hanoi (VNA) – Minister of Public Security GeneralTo Lam met with Gunnar Wiegand, Managing Director for Asia and the Pacific atthe European External Action Service (EEAS), in Hanoi on April 28, asking for further support from the EU in cybersecurity protection.

Lam highlighted the strong growth of the EU-Vietnampartnership across all fields, especially since the two sides set up their bilateralcomprehensive cooperative partnership in 2016 and put the EU-Vietnam Free TradeAgreement (EVFTA) into use last August.

The deal has turned Vietnam into the EU’s leading tradepartner among the ASEAN countries and one of the Asian countries that the EU hasshared partnership with in all fields, including security and law enforcement, henoted.

The minister highlighted that in the field of cyber security,the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security and the EU have enjoyed closecollaboration with the regular organisation of conferences, training, onlinemeetings, consultations and the exchange of expertise.

He underlined that the ministry recognises and highly valuesthe support and positive cooperation, dialogue and experience sharing from theEU in building and implementing laws related to cyber security.

Lam said that during the building of the Law on CyberSecurity and related decrees, Vietnam has received consultations andexperience sharing from the EU in protection of personal data, he added.

The official proposed that in the time to come, the EU willcontinue to share its experience with Vietnam in ensuring cyber security for majorinformation infrastructure works as well as managing trans-border data and protectingdata in important sectors, while increasing discussions and engagement inbuilding and completing national legal framework regarding cyber security,national sovereignty in cyber space and cyber war, as well as introducing and transferringtechnologies, equipment, supporting tools for cyber security protection, andcyber and high-tech criminal prevention and combat.

Regarding the EU-initiated Enhancing Security Cooperation inand with Asia (ESIWA) programme, Lam underlined that the Vietnamese Ministry ofPublic Security highly values the outcomes of the EU-funded projects within theframework of the programme in the 2014-2020 period, adding the projects have made positivecontributions to the economic development in Vietnam, making the Vietnam-EU comparativepartnership deeper and more practical.

He suggested that the EU increase cooperation with Vietnamwithin the ESIWA Programme, especially in cyber security, maritime security,anti-terrorism and crisis management, and proposed the organisation of detaildiscussions to sketch out specific activities to meet the demands of all sides.

For his part, Wiegand said that the growing ties between theEU and Vietnam has not limited in economy, trade and investment but expanded tostrategic areas of politics, diplomacy and security.

The official affirmed that he will continue to work hard to reinforceand further lift up the EU-Vietnam partnership./.