The seminar on the Vietnam-Cuba Trade Agreement in Hanoi on December 18 (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) - TheMinistry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) held a seminar in Hanoi on December 18 toprovide businesses with an insight into the Vietnam-Cuba Trade Agreement, the LatinAmerican country’s first deal with an Asian partner.
The seminar was to help local businesses learn ofthe commitments in the agreement and the challenges and opportunities in boostingexports to Cuba.
The Vietnam-Cuba Trade Agreement was signed inHanoi on November 9, 2018 and came into force on April 1, 2020.
It consists of 14 chapters with regulations ontrade in goods, rules of origin, customs management, trade facilitation, traderemedies, technical standards, conformity assessment procedures, sanitary andphytosanitary measures, and economic and trade cooperation.
The two sides commit to eliminating or reducingtariffs on nearly 100 percent of imports within five years.
The agreement is expected to generate benefitsfor both business circles so as to lift bilateral trade to new heights.
Trade between the two countries stood at 226.81million USD in 2019, including 221.62 million USD in exports from Vietnam. Thefigure reached 102 million USD in the first 10 months of this year, with 100million USD being Vietnamese shipments.
Rice, coffee, chemical products, apparel, andfootwear are major exports, with the country primarily importing vaccines andpharmaceuticals from Cuba.
Vietnam has four investment projects worth tensof millions of USD licensed in Cuba, including two already operational andothers still in preparation./.
VNA
