Hanoi (VNA)🍷 - Strengthening bilateral economic and trade cooperation after the Vietnam-Israel Free Trade Agreement (VIFTA) comes into effect will bring about great benefits and opportunities to businesses from both countries, Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien has said.

With the attainment of agreement in all chapters of VIFTA, especially strong commitment from both sides to raise the rate of trade liberalisation, two-way trade will grow rapidly. Trade should soon reach 3-4 billion USD and beyond, Dien told the Vietnam – Israel Business Forum jointly held by his ministry and the Israeli Embassy in Hanoi on August 16. Israel is a leading partner of Vietnam in the Middle East in terms of trade, investment and labour, he said, noting that their bilateral trade jumped from 1.2 billion USD in 2019 to 2.2 billion USD last year. The official highlighted their cooperation in agriculture with an agreement reached in 1997, and Israel’s support to Vietnam in personnel training in science-technology. As of July 20, 2023, Israel had run 40 FDI projects worth over 140 million USD in Vietnam, ranking 47th among the 148 countries and territories investing in the country. Notably, Israel is Vietnam’s fifth largest trade partner and third largest importer in the Middle East. It ranks 33rd among the more than 200 countries and territories that have trade ties with the Southeast Asian nation. The two economies are reciprocal, he said, suggesting that with their strengths in science and technology, Israeli enterprises should launch new projects in Vietnam, especially in the areas where Vietnam is offering incentives, such as in electronics, the industrial sector, chemicals, and energy. Through Vietnam, a market of around 100 million consumers, Israeli goods can access others in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Asia-Pacific, and other major economies in the 16 FTAs in which Vietnam is a signatory, that includes nearly 6 billion consumers. Israeli Minister of Economy and Industry Nir Barkat said that the Israeli Government considers Vietnam an important partner in the Asia-Pacific region. It wishes to intensify cooperation in all fields, as Vietnam is considered one of the most dynamic economies in the region and the world, with a GDP scale of nearly 410 billion USD, and the 2022 economic growth rate of 8.02%. Israel is making efforts to coordinate with the Vietnamese side to soon complete the relevant procedures so that VIFTA will soon come into effect, he added. The two ministers signed the trade agreement on July 25 in Tel Aviv in the presence of Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The two countries started negotiations on the agreement seven years ago and held 12 sessions. Israel is the first country in the Middle East with which Vietnam has signed a free trade agreement (FTA) and Vietnam is also the first country in Southeast Asia that Israel has signed an FTA with. The agreement consists of 15 chapters and several appendices about trade in goods, services - investment, rules of origin, technical barriers to trade (TBT), sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS), customs, trade remedies, government procurement, and legal – institutional framework. It will ultimately remove duties on at least 86% of Vietnamese products and 93% of Israeli ones, according to the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade./.