EU and Vietnam hold fifth round of negotiations for a free trade agreement

08/11/2013    134

The EU and Vietnam last week completed the fifth round of negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Held in Hanoi, Vietnam from 4-8 November, the talks saw negotiators discussing texts covering all the chapters of the proposed FTA.

More detailed negotiations took place on the market access offers for goods and for government procurement. Constructive discussions were conducted on a so-called “Green Tech Annex” dedicated to tackling non-tariff barriers affecting trade and investment in the renewable energy sector, an area both the EU and Vietnam are keen to promote.

The aim of the negotiations is to achieve an ambitious agreement on goods, services and investment, eliminating tariffs and non-tariff barriers and covering other trade-related issues, such as public procurement, regulatory issues, competition, and trade and sustainable development. Once in place, the agreement will boost EU-Vietnam trade and investment ties and provide for more business opportunities on both sides.

The negotiations were led on the EU side by Mauro Petriccione, Director in the European Commission’s Directorate General for Trade, and his Vietnamese counterpart, Vice Minister for Industry and Trade Tran Quoc Khanh. 

The next round of negotiations will be held in Brussels in January 2014.

Source: http://trade.ec.europa.eu/