Vietnam, RoK conclude FTA talks

Vietnam, RoK conclude free trade agreement talks

Vietnam and the RoK signed a minutes to conclude negotiations of their FTA in Busan on Dec 10.
Vietnam and the Republic of Korea signed a minutes on theconclusion of negotiations of their bilateral free trade agreement (FTA)in Busan on December 10.

The signatories wereVietnam’s Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang and RoK’sMinister of Trade, Industry, and Energy Yoon Sang-jick. Prime MinisterNguyen Tan Dung and President Park Geun-hye witnessed the signingceremony.

The two countries started the FTA talks inAugust 2012 and after eight official negotiation rounds and 8 mid-termand chief negotiator meetings, the two sides have basically agreed onthe contents of the agreement on a comprehensive scope with highcommitments and ensuring balanced mutual interests.

The main contents of the agreement cover the trading of goods andservices, investment, intellectual property, measures on food hygieneand safety, rules of origin, customs facilitation, trade defence,technical barriers in trade, e-commerce, institutions and law, andeconomic cooperation.

The RoK will offer tariff cutand new export opportunities for Vietnam’s key agro-fishery productsincluding shrimp and fish and tropical fruits, as well as industrialproducts such as garment-textile, and mechanical products.

Additionally, the RoK agreed to give more opportunities for Vietnam’s services and investment, while enhancing economic cooperation andproviding technical assistance in various fields for Vietnam .

The country will for the first time allow Vietnamese garlic, ginger,honey, and shrimp to enter its market, giving an advantage to Vietnamover other competitors in the region.

Meanwhile,Vietnam will offer preferential treatment for RoK’s industrialproducts such as materials and accessories for textile-garment, plasticmaterials, electronic parts, trucks and cars of 2,500cc and over,automobile parts, electrical home appliances, iron and steel productsand electric cable.

The RoK will liberalise tariff for 95.43 percent of its tax lines, while the figure for Vietnam is 89.75 percent.

Apart from important export benefits, the Vietnam-RoK Free TradeAgreement is expected to help improve the import efficiency for theproduction of export staples such as garment-textile, footwear, andelectronics, while increasing the rate of high-added value products.

Vietnam ’s commitments to a transparent and open investmentclimate and fair competition in line with international rules are hopedto help increase investment from the RoK, especially in high technologyand processing industry.

The two sides are scheduledto complete negotiations on remaining technical issues and finalisenecessary procedures to officially sign the agreement in early 2015.-VNA

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