Hanoi(VNA) – The successful negotiations and signing of thefree trade agreements with big partners will heighten Vietnam’s image in the worldstage, creating a new push for the economic growth in the long term,Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh has said, refering to the trade deals recently inked with the EU.

Vietnam andthe EU signed the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and EU-VietnamInvestment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) at a ceremony in Hanoi on June 30.

Thenegotiations of the EVFTAconcluded after six years. The deal, expected to be an engine for growth, wouldopen up opportunities forVietnamese enterprises to enter a market of 508 million consumers with acombined GDP of about 18 trillion USD, Anh told the Vietnam News Agency.

He describedthe EVFTA as a comprehensive, high-quality agreement that ensures a balance ofbenefits for both Vietnam and the EU, saying it is important to Vietnameseeconomy as it is hoped to make Vietnamese goods and services more competitivein the EU market.

Almost allVietnam’s exports to the EU will see custom duties removed gradually followinga short roadmap. It is thehighest commitment so far from a partner to Vietnam in a FTA, he noted.

In the trade,service and investment areas, Vietnam’s commitments in the EVFTA are higherthan those in the World Trade Organisation (WTO), in parellel with the EU’shighest commitments in the FTAs it signed recently, the minister said.

The trade dealdoes not include the near complete removal of tariff barriers but is also verycomprehensive, covering a wide range of areas, from trade in goods, publicprocurement, trade defence and intellectual property. Therefore, he expectedthe agreement would not only boost exports from both directions but also helpVietnam improve its competitive edges and join new value chains.

Once the EVFTAtakes effect, Vietnam will grant registration and protection to over 160 EUGeographical Indications (GIs) while the EU will do the same with 39 Vietnamese GIs.

The agreementalso contains chapters in competition, state-owned enterprises, sustainabledevelopment, and cooperation and capacity building. These contents areconsistent with Vietnam’s legislation, laying legal foundation for the twosides to foster partnership and the development of bilateral trade andinvestment, he noted.

Anh moved onto said that the EVFTA still needs to be ratified by parliaments of each side,and that Vietnam will have to go throughanother process of ratification to officially make it effective. Whetherthis process can be short orlengthy, it depends much on the efforts of both Vietnam and the EU, he added.

The EVFTArequires the EU to give itsconsent while the EVIPA will take longer to come into force due to therequirement for member states’ ratification.

All the EU member states have approved the signing of both the EVFTA and the EVIPA, which would certainly smooth the way for the ratification, he said.

He believed withthe spirit and efforts both sides have demonstrated in the negotiation process,concerned agencies of Vietnam and the EU will complete the ratification at thesoonest possible time.

Vietnamremains the EU’s second largest trading partner within the ASEAN. The two-waytrade hit 55 billion USD last year with Vietnam mostly exporting to the EUtelephone sets, electronic products, footwear, textiles and clothing, coffee,rice, seafood and furniture.

Under theEVFTA, Vietnam’s exports to the EU market are forecast to rise 4 – 6 percentcompared to a non-FTA trade relation. Its exports are expected to touch 75billion USD in 2028. –VNA