EVFTA opens up new era in EU-Vietnam trade ties: Italian experts

Illustrative image (Photo: VNA)

Director of the Centre for Vietnam Studies in Turin of Italy Sandra Scagliotti wrote in an article that the EVFTA along with the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVITA) opens up a new period in the development of both Vietnam and the EU.

She said the advantages brought by the two agreements are tremendous for EU investors. For Italian businesses, the EVFTA can be considered a mutually beneficial deal, creating big positive effects on their long-term business and investment plans.

Sharing Sandra Scagliotti’s assessment, Chairman of the Italy-Vietnam Chamber of Commerce Fulvio Albano affirmed that the bilateral Italy-Vietnam relationship has continuously developed in recent years. In such a context, the EVFTA gives EU businesses in general and Italian ones in particular optimal competitive edges through the elimination of up to 99 percent of tax lines in some industries such as alcohol, automobile, machinery, leather goods and furniture.

He stressed that in order to make the best use of opportunities brought about by the EVFTA, Italian businesses should quickly enter the Vietnamese market.

In her article on the Mekong Online bulletin, Violetta Borsi, an expert of the Institute for Vietnamese Studies of Italy, described the approval of the EVFTA as a decisive step in establishing and implementing a trade deal said to be the most progressive, modern and ambitious between the EU and a middle-income country.

The expert said the EVFTA can be considered a model for more trade deals in the future between the EU and developing countries. She added that through the EVFTA voting result (401 votes for, 192 against and 40 abstentions), EP members sent a strong message on their support of free, fair and reciprocal trade in a period when trade tension and protectionism are on the rise.

Many opinions also said besides trade, the EVFTA also contributes to promoting environmental protection and sustainable development, and at the same time helps enhance the bilateral Vietnam-Italy ties.