Hanoi (VNA) – Canada is now a promising market forVietnamese goods as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement forTrans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) is expected to open up this market forVietnamese goods, heard a workshop in Hanoi on April 25.

The CPTPP, which took effect in Vietnam onJanuary 14, gathers 11 member states, namely Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile,Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam thataltogether make up 13.5 percent of global GDP.

Ta Hoang Linh, Director of the European-AmericanMarket Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), said Canadais one of the CPTPP members that have the highest market-opening commitments.Under this pact, it will cut tariffs on 95 percent of imports down to zeropercent, and that covers 78 percent of Vietnam’s total export revenue toCanada.

This market is also one of the three CPTPPmembers with which Vietnam has not yet signed a bilateral trade agreement.Meanwhile, the two sides’ export structures do not compete with but arecomplementary to each other.

Therefore, if businesses can grab opportunities,the CPTPP will open the door wide for many processed and manufactured products whichare Vietnam’s advantages like textile-garment, footwear, wood and aquaticproducts, Linh said.

Jared Brading, Counsellor for DevelopmentCooperation at the Canadian Embassy in Vietnam, said the CPTPP implementationwill bring about more trade and investment chances, helping to strengthen tradepartnership, especially in terms of agricultural and food products.

For Canada, this agreement will help reinforcerelations with new free trade agreement partners like Vietnam and improveVietnamese consumers’ awareness of Canadian goods, he said, noting his hopethat Vietnamese goods will increase its presence in his country.

Brading added the CPTPP will also facilitateCanadian companies’ investment in and provision of technical support forVietnam within the official development assistance framework so as to helplocal firms, especially those run by women, to benefit from tradeliberalisation and the CPTPP.

At the workshop, Nguyen Son Tra, an officialfrom the MoIT’s Multilateral Trade Policy Department, said the enforcement ofthe CPTPP is considered a driving force for bilateral trade.

With the immediate elimination of 95 percent ofimport tariff lines after the deal took effect, which covers 78 percent ofVietnam’s exports to this market, Canada generates numerous export chances forVietnam.

She elaborated all of Vietnam’s aquatic exportsto Canada have benefited from a zero-percent tariff since January 14. The NorthAmerican market has also reduced import tariffs on wooden furniture, tea,pepper and cashew nut to zero percent. It will remove all tariffs ontextile-garment imports in the fourth year since the CPTPP came into force.

Meanwhile, 78 percent of Vietnam’s exports offootwear – another major foreign currency earner – to Canada have also enjoyeda zero-percent tariff immediately after the trade pact took effect.

Statistics show that in 2018, Vietnam shippedmore than 3.01 billion USD worth of goods to Canada. Bilateral trade reached379 million USD in January this year, including 317 million USD of Vietnam’sexports.-VNA