On 30 June 2019, the EU and Vietnam signed the EU - Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the EU - Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (IPA) in the witness of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, representatives from the Ministry of Industry and Trade and leaders of the European Union (EU).

The signing of the two agreements with the EU shows Viet Nam is determined and committed to making deeper integration into the global economy and contributing to its growth. The EVFTA is an ambitious pact providing almost 99 percent of elimination of custom duties between the EU and Vietnam, except for a small number of tariff lines for which the EU and Vietnam agreed on partial liberalisation through zero-duty Tariff Rate Quotas (TRQs).

According to the agreement, 65 percent of duties on EU exports to Vietnam will be eliminated while the remaining will be gradually phased out over a period of 10 years and more than 70 percent of duties will be eliminated on Vietnam exports to the EU, with the remaining being eliminated over a period of seven years./.


VNA