Hanoi (VNA) - Taking full advantage of incentives for farm produce from the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) inthe new context was the theme of a seminar held in both in-person and onlineformats by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) in Hanoi on September 8.
Speaking at the event, Dinh Sy Minh Lang from the MoIT’sDepartment of European-American Markets said statistics from theGeneral Department of Vietnam Customs and surveys conducted by the VietnamChamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) showed that the rate of businesses thathave a relatively good or clear understanding of the EVFTA is significantlyhigher than other FTAs.
Nearly 41% of firms reported reaping specificbenefits from the EVFTA, a notable increase from around 25% in 2020. Inaddition, Vietnam's exports to the EU have shown consistent growth, with 14.2% and16.7 increases in 2021 and 2022, respectively.
Last year, Vietnam's exports to the EUreached 46.8 billion USD, resulting in a trade surplus of 31.4 billion USD.From the beginning of this year until July 31, Vietnam earned 25 billion USD fromexports to the bloc.
Lang said the Vietnamese agriculturalproducts entering the EU have not achieved the expected growth due to challengesposed by non-tariff measures such as Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS)regulations and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) when exporting to the EU.
Most recently, the European Parliament (EP) has passed a newlaw banning the import of goods believed to be linked to deforestationactivities in an effort to promote global climate change mitigation efforts.
Accordingly, the new law will apply to products like coffee,cocoa, soybeans, sawn wood, palm oil, livestock meat, rubber, and derivativesfrom various countries around the world. Additionally, any products in thesecategories found to be associated with deforestation will also be prohibitedfrom entering the EU.
At the seminar, delegates discussed issues regardingbusiness environment risks in the European market and provided guidance oncomplying with international standards to improve internal processes to meetexport requirements./.