Speaking at the presentation ceremony, Director of NEU Pham Manh Hung said the honorary degree is in recognition of the exemplary lifetime contributions of President Barroso to the development of cooperative and friendly relations between the EU and Vietnam.
For his part, Barroso said he was very grateful for the award of the honorary doctorate certificate from NEU – the leading university in Vietnam.
He said he appreciated NEU’s vision which focuses on building and developing international training and research cooperation.
“Making full use of educational cooperative relations between Vietnam and other countries in the world will help Vietnam train high-quality human resources to meet the demands posited by international integration,” he added.
During his working term as EC President (2007-2014), Barroso was instrumental in negotiating the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) and Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the EU and Vietnam.