Berlin (VNA) – Foreign investors, especially those from theEuropean Union (EU) would find it more appealing to land investment in Vietnamwhen the EU- Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) takes effect, according toGerman broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW).

In a story posted on its website, DW said the trade agreement would be the mostambitious the EU has ever negotiated with a developing country, which abolishes99 percent of customs duties, eliminates bureaucratic hurdles by aligningstandards for goods like cars and medicine, and ensures easier market accessfor both European and Vietnamese companies.

On January 21, the EU Parliament’s International Trade Committee (INTA) willpresent a draft resolution of the EVFTA. If the European Parliament accepts theresolution during its plenary session in February, the EVFTA will come intoforce one month later.

The trade deal is a positive step for the economies ofboth Vietnam and the EU, DW quoted Vietnamese Ambassador to Germany Nguyen MinhVu as saying.

In the context of trade tensions and rising protectionism, the EVFTA provides astrong signal of support from both sides for globalisation and unwaveringcommitments to a free and rules-based trade system, he said.

The Vietnamese diplomat also believed that the pact will significantly deepenthe strategic partnership between Vietnam and EU economically and politically.

Vietnam’s economy has grown by an average 6.5 percent in the last five years,and foreign direct investment has played a large part in this. The EVFTA isexpected to serve as a boon for Vietnam to lure more foreign investment in thetime ahead. 

Currently, the EU is Vietnam’s 5th biggestforeign investors. It is reasonable to hope that the figure will increasesignificantly, Ambassador Vu said, adding 62 percent of investors from the EUhave a positive opinion of doing business in the Southeast Asian country.

Meanwhile, Erwin Schweisshelm, former head of the Friedrich-Ebert Foundation inVietnam said that the EVFTA is part of the EU’s widereconomic strategy in Southeast Asia. The EVFTAwould be the EU's second free trade agreement with a member of the Associationof Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a bloc with ten members and a population of600 million people. In November 2019, the EU-Singapore free trade agreemententered into force.

“In long term, there could be an ASEAN-EU agreement”, he said.

The article also said that Vietnam has already ratified six of eightInternational Labour Organisation (ILO) standards, and commended the country’sadoption of revised Labour Code in November 2019 , allowing the creation ofindependent trade unions at the enterprise level that do not have to join the Vietnamtrade union./.