The enforcement of the FTA was reviewed at a working session between Vietnam’s Minister of Industry and Trade, Tran Tuan Anh, and Minister for Trade of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), Veronika Nikishina, in Moscow, on June 18.
According to statistics released by Vietnam Customs, trade between the two sides hit US$3.9 billion in 2017, up 3% from 2016. Also in 2017, Vietnam recorded a trade surplus of nearly US$1 billion with the bloc.
In the first four months of 2018, the bilateral trade was at US$1.53 billion USD, an annual increase of 35%.
Key exports of Vietnam to the EAEU were phones – components, computers – electronic devices, apparel, footwear, fruit – vegetables, coffee, cashew nuts, and seafood. It mainly imported petrol, oil, steel, fertilizers, and machinery from the EAEU. The commodities of the sides supplement each other, thus limiting the disadvantages usually seen with other FTAs.
However, the two ministers took note of the low use of incentives brought by the agreement, particularly the Certificate of Origin Form EAV.
They called for further joint efforts to clear the hurdles for Vietnamese and EAEU businesses so that they can capitalise on the favourable conditions created by the bilateral FTA and bolster their bilateral trade towards a value of 10 billion USD in 2020.
Tuan Anh voiced his concern over the EEC’s safeguard duties that are imposed on Vietnamese underwear and children’s wear products for nine and six months respectively since March 14, 2018. He noted that Vietnam had repeatedly asked for reconsideration of the duties considering that Vietnamese goods account for a low share in the EAEU’s total import of such products, have good quality, and supplement the garment and textile products made by EAEU countries.
The Vietnamese minister asked the EEC to promptly lift the duties and make the criteria of its safeguard measures more transparent in the future.
Concluding their meeting, the two officials agreed to exert greater efforts to effectively implement the EAEU – Vietnam FTA and create the most favourable conditions for the bilateral trade of agro-forestry-fishery goods.
They reached a consensus on accelerating the negotiations to build an electronic origin assessment and certification system following the roadmap committed to by both Vietnam and the bloc.
In an interview with the Vietnam News Agency, Minister Tuan Anh said the FTA is a strong catalyst for trade with Russia, an important comprehensive strategic partner of Vietnam in the EAEU. The trade value with Russia currently accounts for about 90% of Vietnam’s total trade with the bloc.
He said the EAEU is intensifying its trade and investment with the ASEAN Community in its strategy to expand its ties with the Asia-Pacific region, and Vietnam is also building production and distribution chains in the region. Therefore, deeper cooperation with Vietnam will give producers and suppliers in Russia and other EAEU opportunities to join supply chains in the Asia-Pacific.
