To enable the business community and Vietnamese people to effectively leverage Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), especially the new-generation FTAs, the Government assigned the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) to coordinate with other ministries and agencies to develop the FTA Portal (FTAP) with funding and technical assistance from interested trading partners and international organizations.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) on December 23 held a ceremony in Ha Noi to launch the Viet Nam Free Trade Agreement Portal (FTAP), at fta.moit.gov.vn.

The portal, the first of its kind in Viet Nam, has been developed by the MoIT and the World Bank, with support from the Government of Australia, since February 2019. After nearly two years of implementation, the experts of MOIT and WB have finalized the final step to launch FTAP - Vietnam's first FTA Portal - despite various difficulties caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

FTAP will provide a smart online lookup tool to the business community and other users, who are interested in the commitments in FTAs to which Vietnam is a party. FTAP is started with the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), focusing on tax commitments, rules of origin, services and investment, as well as other information such as market situation, import and export regulations, sustainable development, among others. The lookup tool designed for FTAP allows any individual or business interested in FTA commitments to be a place and have online access to the most possible detailed, clear, and simple guidance, instead of searching by themselves or contacting different agencies to get the information they need. This will minimize time and costs, supporting businesses take advantage of the most effective opportunities they can earn from the FTAs that Vietnam is participating in.

FTA Portal is designed and built with the following main features and elements: (i) Online lookup of tax commitments, rules of origin, services and investment under FTAs with partners for preferential treatment; (ii) Data and characteristics of markets engaging in a FTA with Vietnam, required procedures for imports/exports, licensing, etc.; (iii) Updated action plans of Vietnamese authorities to implement FTAs; (iv) Updated legal documents issued by regulators to implement FTAs; (v) Updated communication activities such as conferences, seminars, training courses and publications to support businesses. The above data and information are in bilingual display (Vietnamese and English).

After being in place, FTAP will continue to be updated and improved by added features as well as add other FTAs that Vietnam is a signatory to maximize benefits to the business community and Vietnamese people.

• Vietnam poised to bridge global semiconductor workforce gap
• Vietnam welcomes US Commerce Department's consideration of market economy's status for Vietnam: spokesperson
• Vietnam remains attractive destinations for Japanese IT firms
• PM suggests Samsung see Vietnam as strategic manufacturing, export base
• Unprecedented policies drive Vietnam’s economic recovery