Illustrative image (Photo: VNA) Opening the event, Vice President of the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences (VASS) Dang Xuan Thanh said despite the obviousbenefits brought by the EVFTA, the optimization of incentives offered by thedeal has not met expectations.
He cited examples such as Vietnam’s exports still focus on some traditionalmarkets, and the mechanism for linking localities with Vietnameserepresentative agencies abroad for trade and investment promotion remainsincomplete.
He hoped the seminar would identifyoutstanding problems in and draw lessons from the enforcement of the EVFTA overthe past two years, and work out solutions to better utilize the deal in thefollowing years.
Regarding the impacts of the EVFTA on Vietnam’strade and investment, researcher Hoang Xuan Trung from the Institute for EuropeStudies highlighted that bilateral trade increased by 14.5% year-on-year in2021 to 57 billion USD, and 14.6% in the first six months of this year to 31.7percent.
However, he pointed to arising challenges suchas the limited capability of Vietnamese enterprises to make the best use ofavailable incentives under the FTA, the increase in trade frauds in the digitaltrade environment, trade protection measures imposed by the EU against Vietnamesegoods, and unforeseeable changes in the world security situation.
Participants exchanged views on the bilateralrelations between Vietnam and EU members, localities and sectors’ experiencesin carrying out the EVFTA, social issues arising in the enforcement of thedeal, and possible ways to optimize the benefits of the FTA./.
VNA
