Hanoi (VNA) – The European Parliament (EP)’sCommittee on International Trade (INTA) and the Vietnamese Government haveagreed that they have to make concerted efforts for the ratification of theEU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) in the next eight or nine months.
INTA Chairman Bernd Lange, who was on a workingtrip to Vietnam, made the statement at a press meeting on September 15.
He said the EP is in charge of approving alltreaties or international trade agreements that the EU joins. The EVFTA will beconsidered in two stages, by the INTA and by the EP.
The deal is scheduled to be considered andverified by the INTA in the spring of 2018 to ensure that all commitments inthe agreement will be fully implemented. If the EP reaches major consensus, theEVFTA will be approved next summer, Lange noted.
He expressed his belief that the trade pact willbring about sustainable growth and benefits to both sides.
[Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, INTA Chair talk EVFTA signing]
To soon conclude the EVFTA negotiation, which isnow in the final stage of legal review, Lange said Vietnam should soon ratifyeight core conventions of the International Labour Organisation to ensure thatthe deal will equally benefit all people.
The EU and Vietnam should pledge not to obtaineconomic benefits at any cost and to ensure safety for the environment, headded.
To guarantee that all people will benefit fromthe EVFTA, the two sides are set to establish a new mechanism called domesticadvisory groups to give advice to their governments, thus improving the deal’scontents during the implementation and creating opportunities for both sides’organisations to exchange information.-VNA