Vietnam and the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan have put the final touches to their negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) that is expected to be signed by early next year.
The two sides recently released a joint statement on concluding the discussions on the FTA in a signing ceremony held in Vietnam recently.
Vietnam’s Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang and Minister In Charge for Trade of Asia-Europe Economic Committee Andrei A. Slepnhev signed the agreement on December 15, witnessed by Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, according to a report by VietnamNet Bridge.
Since its launch in Hanoi in March 2013, the FTA has undergone eight rounds of negotiations and several mid-term technical meetings. The key point of the deal is to strengthen bilateral commitments to ensure mutual benefits while taking into account specific conditions of each side.
The agreement covers trade in goods, rules of origin, trade safeguards, services, investments, intellectual property, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, customs facilitation, technical barriers to trade, e-technology, competition, and legal and institutional issues.
The Customs Union has offered tariff incentives to Vietnam, opening up new opportunities for local key products like farm produce, seafood, garments, footwear, and wooden products to boost exports to its market.
Vietnam, on the other hand, agreed to open up its market to some Customs Union’s products, such as husbandry products, machinery, equipment, and means of transport.
The Customs Union is one of Vietnam’s traditional export markets with 170 million customers. In recent times, Vietnam’s investment in the Customs Union has grown significantly.
This is the first FTA that the Customs Union will sign with a foreign country.
The two sides will start to tackle pending technical issues and necessary procedures to prepare for the signing of the agreement in early 2015.
Photo: KVDP
