At the fifth round of negotiations (Photo: VNA) Jerusalem (VNA) – Vietnam and Israel reached progress during the fifthround of negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA) between the two nationswhich was recently held in Jerusalem city.
Trade in goods, rules of origin, customs,technical barriers to trade, trade in services, trade safeguard, investment,government’s purchase, and other legal and institutional issues were tabled atthe fifth round.
In the spirit of openness and frankness, the two sides made headway in majornegotiation fields such as good and service trade, and agreed make greaterefforts to complete the negotiations soon in line with directions of the twocountries’ leaders.
Vietnam and Israel have enjoyed increasing two-way trade in the past years.Last year, bilateral trade reached 1.06 billion USD, of which Vietnam exported713 million USD worth of products to Israel and imported 347 million USD worthof goods from the Middle East country.
The signing of a FTA is expected to further foster trade and investment betweenthe two countries as well as bring substantial benefits to enterprises,labourers and citizens of both nations.
Vietnam and Israel officially launched FTA negotiations on December 2, 2015.The next round of talks will be held at the end of this year in Vietnam asagreed by the two sides.-VNA
VNA
