At a conferencetitled ‘The Vietnam-RoK Free Trade Agreement (VKFTA): Commitments andits Impacts on Vietnamese Enterprises’ held in HCM City on May 22, theMinistry of Industry and Trade introduced the agreement’s key points.
Pham Khac Tuyen, head of the Northeast AsiaDivision under MoIT’s Asia-Pacific Market Department, said theopportunity for Vietnamese commodities to enter the RoK will be greaterthan ever, because the agreement has abolished taxes on many Vietnamesegoods.
Concerning imports, Tuyen said it is noweasier for Vietnam to get access to materials and parts used for themanufacturing of garments and textile, footwear and electronics atcheaper prices, thus reducing the risk of reliance on certain countriesfor these vital materials.
Specifically, taxcommitments in the VKFTA will see the RoK liberalise 97.2 percent of itsimport tariffs, including many key exports of Vietnam such asagro-products and seafood.
According to Tuyen,the challenges for Vietnamese enterprises and the domestic market arenot big because the Vietnam-RoK trade relationship is complementary.
He added that Vietnam’s commitment regardingservices and investment will help the country form a more transparentand open environment to draw investment from the RoK as well as othercountries.
Tran Ngoc Liem, deputy director ofthe Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry in HCM City, said thatchallenges from the VKFTA will force Vietnamese enterprises to improvetheir competitiveness, thus preparing them for the tougher competitionfrom other upcoming FTA agreements with the United States, the EuropeanUnion and the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan.
Vietnam-RoK trade has increased tremendously from 500 million USD in1992 to 26 billion USD in 2014 with an annual growth of 20 percent.
The RoK is Vietnam’s third biggest trade partner, fifth biggest export market and second biggest import market.
The Northeast Asian country is also the leading investor in Vietnamwith 4,140 valid projects and a combined capital of 37.43 billion USDas of the end of 2014.-VNA