The European Union and Vietnam clinched on Monday an agreement in principle on a new free trade deal that would see the lifting of most tariffs on goods.
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The EU and Vietnam on Tuesday, August 4, announced a free trade deal that would remove almost all tariffs that Brussels called a “milestone” on the way to a region-wide agreement with Southeast Asia.
“We have a deal”. “The agreement with Vietnam sets a new standard on agreements with developing countries”.
The European Parliament last month effectively gave Malmstrom a mandate to continue negotiations when it backed a compromise on setting up a new European court to settle any disputes arising from any trade pact. Then latter would then be submitted to EU member states for approval.
Vietnam has agreed to liberalise trade in financial services, telecommunications, transport, and postal and courier services.
The EU was Vietnam’s second export destination after the US, with the EU purchasing as much as 18% of Vietnam’s global exports.
The agreement has taken two and a half years of talks to be agreed upon. Its market will also be opened to EU investment by the easing or removal of barriers, in particular for food products and beverage manufacture.
The agreement makes specific mention of Geographic Indications (GIs), which protect products like Champagne and Rioja as well as Scotch Whisky from poor-quality imitations.
The Agreement will also contain a legally binding link to the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) that governs the overall relationship between the EU and Vietnam, thereby ensuring that human rights, democracy, and the rule of law are essential elements of our bilateral trade relations. We welcome the country’s FTA with the European Union, which should encourage our future expansion.
EU became Vietnam’s second largest trade partner in 2013 when the country’s exports to the market hit 25 billion euro (US$27.4 billion) in values, while imports from EU accounted for 29 percent of its total imports, according to figures from Eurocham.
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Vietnam exports mobile phones and other electronics, footware and textiles, and agricultural products including coffee, rice and seafood to the EU.
