The last fruit in a two-tonne batch of lychee which TT Meridian Ltd imported for the first time officially under the UK-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (UKVFTA) were distributed to supermarkets and customers in the UK on the evening of June 30 (UK time).

Vietnam is a potential market for British firms operating in the electronics industry, Do Nhat Hoang, Director of the Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Foreign Investment Agency, said at a webinar on June 30.

Issuing date: 11 June, 2021 Issuing authority: Ministry of Industry and Trade

The General Department of Customs has just issued an official dispatch instructing provincial and municipal customs departments to uniformly implement the provisions of Decree 53/2021/ND-CP on Vietnam's special preferential import and export tariff for implementation of the Free Trade Agreement between Vietnam and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the UKVFTA) in the 2021-2022 period.

British manufacturers are likely to have less protection against cheap imports from the UK’s post-Brexit trade regulator than they had under the EU regime, those running the new body have said.

Despite COVID-19 cutting into demand for textiles and garments, enterprises have poured investment into materials to improve production capacity, completing the supply chain and taking advantage of new generation free trade agreements (FTAs) that have come into effect.

On May 21, the Vietnamese government issued Decree 53/2021/ND-CP (Decree 53) on Vietnam’s preferential export and import tariffs for the implementation of the UK Vietnam free trade agreement (UKFTA) for the 2021-2022 period. Decree 53 is effective May 21, 2021.

The UK-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (UKVFTA), which officially took effect on May 1, is believed to herald a new era for Vietnamese goods to gain a foothold in a market with strong purchasing power, according to the Dau tu (Vietnam Investment Review) newspaper.

The Trade Remedies Authority, a new independent body with powers to help defend UK economic interests from unfair international trading practices, has launched.

On May 21, 2021, the Government issued Decree 53/2021/ND-CP on Vietnam’s Preferential Export Tariff and Special Preferential Import Tariff to implement the UKVFTA Agreement for the 2021-2022 period.