The EU and Vietnam share a long history of cooperation on trade. At the national level, a Comprehensive Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) between the EU and Vietnam was signed in 2012 and entered into force on January 20, 2016. The PCA acknowledges the contribution of trade and investment to development and the role of trade preferential agreements in promoting growth.

The overall objective of the EU’s TA ARISE+ VN Intervention is to contribute to inclusive economic growth and poverty reduction in Vietnam by providing technical assistance to the Government of Vietnam (GoVN) to maximize benefits from preferential trade regimes, focusing on regional agreements and the EVFTA and Investment Protection Agreement (IPA). Vietnam’s economy is strongly outward-oriented, with the total value of exports increasing from 46% of GDP in 2001 to 90% of GDP in 2015, with the EU being its second-largest trading partner.

Previous trade assistance programs supported Vietnam in its accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and in implementing WTO commitments. The subsequent program, the “EU-MUTRAP” (EUR 16 million, ending in 2017), provided capacity building to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) during the EVFTA negotiations and included a grant component to support six Vietnam-based business organizations in export-oriented sectors.

Negotiations for a free trade agreement between the EU and Vietnam were concluded in December 2015. The EVFTA and growth and trade are main objectives of Vietnam's Socio-Economic Development Strategy 2011–2020. ARISE+ is implemented in 8 ASEAN Member States and contributes to the Regional Multiannual Indicative Programme Asia 2014-2020, which serves as the main framework for EU regional cooperation in Asia.

The ARISE+ VN program is a five-year program (2019-2023) with a total budget of EUR 6.4 million. The TA ARISE+ VN has a budget of EUR 3,632,000 and is supported through two grant interventions: “Scaling sustainable production and trade of Vietnamese pepper” and “Enhancing the Export Competitiveness of Vietnamese Small and Medium Enterprises in Spice, Fruit and Vegetable Sub-Sectors (SFV-Export).” A regional component covering the entire ASEAN region will be implemented during the same period.

The ARISE+ VN contributes to the integration of Vietnam's economy into the global production chain through targeted support to both the public and private sectors. The priorities set in the PCA echo several of the main objectives of Vietnam's national development strategy. The Socio-Economic Development Strategy (SEDS) 2011–2020 lays the foundation for Vietnam to become a "modern oriented industrial economy by 2020". SEDS 2011-2020 is followed by SEDS 2021-2030 and the Socio-Economic Development Plan (SEDP) 2021-2025. Global economic integration remains a guiding principle under the SEDS. Economic development is expected to foster human development, with Vietnam aiming to achieve a Human Development Index (HDI) within the "medium to high group" of the world by 2020. Implementing the EVFTA and IPA remains a high priority for the GoVN.

The Lead Partner for implementation is DAI Global Austria GmbH (DAI), in a consortium with the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (EuroCham), the GOPA Gesellschaft für Organisation, Planung und Ausbildung mbH (GOPA), and the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI). The Intervention is implemented through a service contract - Technical Assistance – signed in February 2020, financed under the Development Cooperation Instrument.