Leveraging Opportunities from EU Trade Policy

The seminar was held with the support of the “European Trade Policy and Investment Support Project (EU-MUTRAP)” to support Vietnam's further integration into the global trading system and the partnership of the ASEAN and the sub-regions, to strengthen the investment relationship between Vietnam and the EU and to maximize the benefits of the economic development including the overall economic growth and the poverty reduction.

 

According to the experts of the EU-MUTRAP, the EU is a single market with limited interior barriers, free circulation of goods, services, people and capital and high influences on the neighboring countries. Currently, the EU has implemented many policy-oriented extensions and admitted new countries, and continued to open up more opportunities to promote the new markets.

 

In terms of the cooperation with Vietnam, to date, the FTA between Vietnam and the EU has undergone four negotiation rounds and it is expected to be signed in the mid-2014. To achieve the objectives, both sides have set out specific framework and tried best efforts to follow up the progress.

 

Mr Brynari Fornari, Deputy Head of the Cooperation and Development Section of the EU Delegation to Vietnam, said that in the long term, Vietnam will gain more positive benefits when the agreement is signed and implemented. The FTA between Vietnam and the EU, once signed, will create more favorable conditions for Vietnam; the taxes will be imposed at zero for most commodities such as agricultural products, food, shoes, and apparel, which facilitates the development of commercial activities. In addition to the positive impacts contributing to increase the level of safety for the investment of the enterprises, the FTA of Vietnam and the EU is also expected to boost the investment of the European businesses in Vietnam in the next period. Especially, along with the traditional commitments to open markets, tariff reductions, the agreement is directed to other areas such as the investment environment, intellectual property and sustainable development, which are considered to be new areas with high impact on many important sectors of Vietnam.

According to Mr Brynari Fornari, besides the positive impacts of the FTA, the negative impacts on economic development, trade and investment in Vietnam will be removed through the tariff reduction progress.

 

Mr Claudio Dordi, Chief Consultant of the EU - MUTRAP, gave his evaluation on the latest free trade agreements the EU has added emerging social issues related to human rights, labour protection, and environmental protection. Any country that strictly complies with such the provisions of the agreement could accelerate the negotiation with the EU Commission and the signing of the FTA with the EU. Otherwise, those countries that do not respect and comply with these provisions would be more difficult.

In regards to the latest FTA, Mr Pierre Defraigne, Executive Director of the Madariaga-College of Europe Foundation, of the EU University as well as the former Head of the European Commission, said the new generation FTA does not stop at bringing the economic benefits in the field of trade and investment, but also enhances competitiveness through a series of measures of improving training and skills development of employees, complying with labour conditions and ensuring a good business and investment environment. The FTA of the EU has great impacts on the developing countries. Specifically, the FTA is replaced for the General Tariff Preferences (GSP) and the other regional agreements with ACP- African, Caribbean and the Pacific, of which the interaction in relation to the developing countries is an important element to the EU's new FTA.

Not only does the EU consider the Asia as an emerging continent today, but also the EU sees the Asia as a strategic partner. And Vietnam is as a part of the core countries the EU shows interest in. Mr Pierre Defraigne emphasized that the FTA of Vietnam and the EU will bring great opportunities for Vietnam. However, to take advantage and exploit these opportunities effectively, Vietnam is required to prepare an appropriate policy-making framework with the emphasis on improving the business and investment environment and linking the economic development goals with the social security goals based on the actual situation of the country's economy and international integration.

 

In terms of business, Mr Pierre Defraigne recommends that Vietnamese businesses enhance access to information, regulations and market opportunities related to the FTA of Vietnam and the EU. The strengthening of information access and contribution to the trade policy development will help businesses, particularly small and medium enterprises, to meet the regulations once accessing the EU market. In addition, the businesses can also take advantage of the experiences, technology development, and modern techniques of the member countries of the EU to enhance the production capacity to meet the rigorous standards of the EU.