( HANOI) - Vietnam's prime minister on Monday hailed progress in free trade talks with the European Union, saying a deal could be concluded as early as October. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung was speaking after meeting European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso, who is in Hanoi to discuss issues including trade and security. Dung told reporters the pair had held "open, candid talks" and called for a deepening of economic ties between Vietnam and the EU, including achieving "the goal of concluding FTA (Free Trade Agreement) negotiations by October 2014." Discussions were launched in 2012. In 2013, EU-Vietnam trade was worth around 27.6 billion euros or $36 billion.