Vietnam, EU move to finalise EVFTA ratification

Paris (VNA) – Vietnam and the European Union (EU) are working to finalize legal and language – related issues for the EU-Vietnam free trade agreement (EVFTA) towards the official signing and ratification of the trade deal next year, said Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Quoc Khanh.

At a workshop on the EVFTA held by the French Business Federation (MEDEF) and the Asia Centre in Paris on December 1, Khanh emphasised the common goal of the two sides to effective implement the agreement after it is inked, adding that the Vietnamese Government is outlining a specific plan for the application of the agreement.

For his part, Chief of the negotiation delegation of the EVFTA Raffaele Mauro Petriccione noted that the approval process of the agreement could take a long time because the EU is a trade bloc with many members.

Participants to the workshop appreciated Vietnam’s active foreign economic-trade policy and highlighted Vietnam’s leading role in recent global events, especially the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Da Nang, Vietnam.

According to Marie-Christine Pocin, a senior advisor from France’s Ministry of Economy and Finance, Vietnam has a consistent policy of integrating its economy into the global trade and the country has been developing various fields to promote poverty reduction.

Vietnam plays a positive role in the process of regional economic integration, she stressed.

Nguyen Dinh Cung, Director of the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM), highlighted the importance of the EVFTA in Vietnam’s integration process.

The trade deal brings great benefits to the country as it is estimated to generate an additional 2.5 percent to Vietnam’s GDP by 2020 and 4.6 percent by 2025, he said.

The agreement is expected to help increase Vietnam’s export to the union, while creating new jobs for Vietnamese labour force, especially those working in rural and agricultural areas.

It would also make it easy for Vietnam to import important technologies as well, which would help improve the country’s economy rankings.

Vietnam is the third largest trade partner of the EU in ASEAN, with trade hitting 41 billion EUR (48.7 billion USD) in 2016.

Vietnam mainly exports electronics, textiles, footwear, rice, seafood, and coffee to the EU, while importing hi-tech products, industrial machines and pharmaceutics.-VNA