Workers process frog for export to the EU at a factory in southern Long An province (Photo: VNA)London (VNA) - Trade and investment relationsbetween Vietnam and the UK are to benefit from the EU-Vietnam Free TradeAgreement (EVFTA), according to Trade Counsellor at the Vietnamese Embassy in theUK Nguyen Canh Cuong.
Developing trade and investment tieswith Vietnam is a priority for many UK businesses, and once the deal takeseffect they will have a range of investment opportunities and are likely toshift existing investment to Vietnam.
He said the EU-Vietnam InvestmentProtection Agreement (EVIPA) is waiting for ratification from parliaments in someEU member nations, which along with the EVFTA has created trust among EUinvestors.
Vietnam holds advantages in trade andinvestment relations with the EU and other countries in the region thanks tothe two agreements, as within ASEAN, only Singapore has signed an FTA with theEU. Vietnam, with nearly 100 million consumers, will be a more attractivemarket for European investors.
COVID-19 is also changing trade practices in the UK,with dependence on Chinese suppliers being lessened. The UK is likely toestablish new trade channels with businesses from countries it has signed FTAswith and those parties to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement forTrans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
Cuong added that the EVFTA will help raise the competitivenessof many Vietnamese products over equivalents from countries without an FTA withthe UK, such as China, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines,Myanmar, and Brazil.
Trade between Vietnam and the UK increased by an averageof 17.8 percent per year in the 2010-2019 period, with Vietnam posting a surplusfor many years.
Vietnam has exported nearly 7 billion USD worth of goodsto the UK in the last three years, primarily mobile phones and spare parts,garments and textiles, footwear, fisheries, wood and wooden products, computersand components, cashew nuts, coffee, and pepper.
Bilateral trade was just over 1.5billion USD in the first four months of 2020, a year-on-year decline of 17.8percent due to COVID-19./.
VNA
