Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement: Challenges and Solutions
(VOV) -A seminar on challenges and solutions in the implementation of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Vietnam and the EU was held in Hanoi on December 5.
The event was co-organised by the Party Central Committee's Commission for External Relations, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and German Konrad Adenauer Institute.
Participants told the seminar that since Vietnam and the EU established diplomatic ties in November 1990, the two sides have strengthened multifaceted cooperation in all fields including politics, trade, and investment. Their two-way trade turnover has increased 7 folds within 12 years, from US$4.5 billion in 2001 to more than US$33.7 billion in 2013.
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Key export items to EU include textiles, leather and footwear, tropical agricultural products, and wooden furniture.
Particularly, Vietnam and the EU are striving to conclude their free trade pact negotiation by early 2015.
However, there remains a number of challenges to the negotiation process such as the final terms to ensure the compatibility of the agreement with domestic law, and issues relating to adjustment scale, dispute settlement and lawsuits after the agreement is signed.
To solve these issues, participants suggested that the two sides should exchange experiences and update information on the negotiation progress.
They should review the legal documents enforce at present and propose amendments, especially in issues relating to economic institutional reform, government procurement, State-owned enterprises, environment, and competition policy.