Both Vietnamese businesses and EU companies operating in Vietnam will benefit from the Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA), which is expected to be signed in the coming time.

Truong Dinh Tuyen, former Trade Minister, made the comment at a seminar in Hanoi on April 7 on opportunities and challenges for FDI businesses in Vietnam when the Vietnam-EU FTA is signed.

He expressed his belief that the EU’s investment in Vietnam will increase due to the country’s continuously improved investment environment.

In addition, he pointed out that when investing in Vietnam , EU enterprises will not only sell their products to the local market but also export them to a potential market of 3.5 billion people of the EU and countries which have FTAs with Vietnam.

Last year, Vietnam and the EU agreed to negotiate for a free trade agreement, marking a new milestone in their bilateral relations.

The EU is a leading export market of Vietnam , which earned an export value of 15.4 million USD in 2010 from 5.6 billion USD in 2005. Between 2008 and 2010, the EU had accounted for 18 percent of Vietnam’s export market share.

The EU is also a leading investor in Vietnam with 1,079 projects with a total registered investment capital of over 16 billion USD.

The seminar was jointly held by the Vietnam Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises (VAFIE) and the National Committee for International Economic Cooperation./.