Brussels, 20/01/2014 (Agence Europe) - According to Hanoi, the EU and Vietnam have set out a route to be able to complete their free-trade negotiations in September. The European Commission confirms that good headway has been made.
Last week European and Vietnamese negotiators completed a sixth round of fruitful negotiations in Brussels, with view to a free trade agreement. The negotiators made “good progress” on all chapters of the agreement. According to the Commission, “particular progress” on all three chapters - customs and trade facilitation, technical obstacles to trade, and competition (anti-trust and mergers) - has given the negotiating teams the opportunity to conclude the technical work and reach an agreement.
The negotiators also had “intense discussions” on market access for goods, services, investment and public procurement, and “constructive talks” on sustainable development (particularly on sustainable forest management and trade in forest products), climate change, and multilateral labour standards. Discussion on the car annex aimed at encouraging the use of international standards in the automotive sector and at improving the investment environment in that sector took place in “a positive atmosphere”.
The EU and Vietnam want to seal an ambitious agreement covering goods and services, investment, non-tariff barriers, public procurement, regulatory issues, competition and sustainable development. The fifth session of negotiations, in November 2013, led to discussions on the initial offers on goods and public procurement, which were exchanged in July. It also enabled an initial exchange of views on the Green Tech annex to the agreement, dedicated to the fight against non tariff barriers that affect environmental trade.
On the Vietnamese side, assurances have been given that the negotiators have set out a route to be able to complete the discussions in September and to make the agreement official during the visit of Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung to Europe in October. The next round of discussions is scheduled for Hanoi in mid-March (17-21 March).
Vietnam is the EU's fifth biggest trading partner in the ASEAN region. In 2012, bilateral trade in goods stood at nearly €24 billion - with €5.3 billion in exports for the EU compared with €18.5 billion of exports for Vietnam. The EU is the fourth biggest foreign investor in Vietnam with US$1.37 billion in direct investment in the country in 2012. (EH/transl.fl)