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.
The agreement includes a dedicated chapter on cooperation in implementing the Agreement and to assist Vietnam in reaping the full benefits. Boosting sustainable development is a key objective for such cooperation. Areas of particular importance include labour and environmental matters, trade facilitation, and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
After the conclusion of the Singapore FTA in 2014, this will be the second FTA between the European Union and a country of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). As such, it is a building block towards the EU’s ultimate objective of an ambitious and comprehensive region-to-region FTA with ASEAN as a whole.
What’s next?
After this breakthrough, technical discussions will have to be completed so as to finalise the legal text of the agreement. Given the cooperation established with Vietnam over many years and strengthened by this negotiating process, it is expected that this process could be finalised in a few months’ time and certainly before the end of the year.
EU- Vietnam Trade in facts and figures
In 2014, the EU was the second trading partner for Vietnam after China (not including trade within ASEAN), representing 10% of total Vietnamese trade. The EU was Vietnam’s second export destination (after the US), with the EU purchasing as much as 18% of Vietnam’s global exports.
In 2014, EU-Vietnam trade in goods was worth over €28.2 billion, with €22.1 billion of imports from Vietnam into the EU and €6.2 billion of exports from the EU to Vietnam.
Vietnam’s key export items to the EU include telephone sets, electronic products, footwear, textiles and clothing, coffee, rice, seafood, and furniture. EU exports to Vietnam, meanwhile, are dominated by high-tech products including electrical machinery and equipment, aircraft, vehicles, and pharmaceutical products.
Total bilateral trade in services amounted in 2013 to €2.9 billion, with a slight surplus for the EU.
The EU is one of the largest foreign investors in Vietnam. In 2013, EU investors committed a total of more than €500 million in Foreign Direct Investment and thus remain Vietnam’s sixth largest foreign investor partner.
Since 2013, Vietnam has been the EU’s fourth most important trading partner among the ten ASEAN Member States, surpassing the EU’s bilateral trade with Indonesia.
Source: comunicaffe.com/eu-and-vietnam-reach-agreement-on-free-trade-deal/
