Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc attended the EVFTA signing ceremony

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc attended the EVFTA signing ceremony. Source: trithuctre.vn

About an hour before the signing ceremony was announced to take place, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc arrived to the signing room. The official signing ceremony took place at 4PM on June 30 in Hanoi.

According to the previously announced schedule, PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his wife as well as a delegation of senior Vietnamese leaders attended the G20 Summit and visited Japan from June 27 to July 1 at the invitation of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) is a comprehensive, high-quality free trade agreement that will benefit both Vietnam and the EU.

In addition to the common benefits, the EVFTA will also create great opportunities for development, creating new incentives to improve Vietnam's competitiveness, integrating into the global value chain, and strengthening international integration.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc at the signing room (Source: trithuctre.vn)

According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the EVFTA will increase Vietnam’s export turnover to the EU by 20 per cent by 2020, 42.7 per cent by 2025, and 44.37 per cent by 2030, while import turnover from the EU will also raise (albeit at a lower rate) by 15.28 per cent by 2020, 33.06 per cent by 2025, and 36.7 per cent by 2030.

The EVFTA will contribute to increasing Vietnam’s GDP by around 2.18-3.25 per cent (2019-2023), 4.57-5.3 per cent (2024-2028), and 7.07-7.72 per cent (2029-2033).

The signing of the agreement is an important milestone in nearly a decade of EVFTA negotiations. The journey began in October 2010, when the Prime Minister of Vietnam and the President of the EU agreed to start negotiations on the EVFTA. The negotiation process was formalised in June 2012.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc led the delegations of Vietnam and the EU to the signing room. Source: trithuctre.vn

In June 2018, Vietnam and the EU agreed to separate the agreement into the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA). The EVFTA will officially take effect when the European Parliament and the National Assembly of Vietnam ratify it. Meanwhile, the EVIPA will also need to be approved by the parliaments of EU member countries to take effect.

Thanks to the EVFTA, most Vietnamese goods exports to the EU will be exempt from tax. The EU is currently one of the two largest export markets of Vietnam.