Hanoi, Dec. 9 -- Looking back on 35 years of Vietnam-European Union (EU) relations, one can observe a profound shift in both the scale and quality of engagement between the two sides. The relationship is entering a new phase, marked by challenges and promising prospects for deeper collaboration. From a partnership initially centred on development aid and assistance in the early years of Vietnam's Doi moi (Renewal) process, they have today become comprehensive partners across trade, investment, education, science and technology, and notably green transition. In the early period of economic opening, the bloc was among Vietnam's largest providers of official development assistance (ODA), supporting institutional reform, poverty reduction, in...