The fourth meeting of the Joint Committee established in accordance with the Free Trade Agreement between the EAEU and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam was held at the Eurasian Economic Commission’s venue in Moscow. The meeting was chaired by Andrey Slepnev, EEC Minister in charge of Trade, and Nguyen Hong Dien, Minister of Industry and Trade of Vietnam.
"Vietnam is our tried-and-true partner, since the first Free Trade Agreement was concluded by the Eurasian Economic Union with this country. For six years now, we have developed trade and economic cooperation in conformity with this document, and due in great part to it, we managed to significantly increase mutual trade turnover", Andrey Slepnev noted during his speech.
According to him, the volume of mutual trade reached 7.8 bln US dollars in 2021, which is 25% higher than the results of 2020. Along with that, the EAEU exports increased by 36%, and the imports grew by 21%. In general, summarizing the results of the first five years of implementing the Free Trade Agreement, the trade turnover between the Eurasian Economic Union and Vietnam increased by 32.2%.
In turn, Nguyen Hong Dien has expressed confidence in strong potential that remains to further increase trade and economic interaction. According to the Minister, the arrangements reached during the meetings of the working bodies of Vietnam and the EAEU will enable propelling the Agreement to a new qualitative level.
For this purpose, the sides agreed to continue consultations on developing the Agreement, in particular, on expanding the access of goods, such as cognac products and others, to each other's markets.
The final minutes of the meeting noted the Vietnamese side’s readiness to address the issue of increasing wheat exports from the EAEU countries to its territory, as well as confirmed the partners' intention to organize a visit of veterinary officers to complete the certification of boneless beef supplies.
The updated List of special criteria for determining the origin of goods and the draft Protocol on electronic exchange of information between the EAEU Member States and Vietnam within the Electronic system of certification and verification of goods origin were approved.
In conclusion, the Joint Committee’s attendees delved into new areas of cooperation, such as the exchange of experience and the best available technologies within the climate agenda.
For reference
The Free Trade Agreement between the Eurasian Economic Union and its Member States, on the one part, and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, on the other part, was signed on May 29, 2015 and came into effect on October 5, 2016. The document establishes the parties’ mutual obligations in terms of expanding access to their markets within mutual trade for suppliers of goods and services from partner countries under the Agreement.