The European Union and Vietnam are set to implement their bilateral free trade agreement in early 2018.

The “EU-Vietnam FTA: New Opportunities” conference

Since signing the agreement in December, 2015, both sides have sped up legal revision process towards its verification.

A conference entitled “EU-Vietnam FTA: New Opportunities” was held in Brussels in September. The delegates were informed that both Vietnam and the EU have worked to keep the agreement on track.

Mutual benefit

When the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement comes into effect, it will generate great tariff advantages for commodities of both sides. 

The EU will remove import tariffs for about 85.6% of Vietnamese goods immediately and 99% of its tariffs after 5 years and clear all import tariffs after 7 years.

Vietnam commits to remove 65% of import tariffs for EU commodities when the agreement comes into effect and 99% of its tariffs within 10 years.

EU machines and equipment will be tax free when the FTA comes into force or within 5 years. Vietnam agrees to reduce the import tax rate to zero for cars and motorbikes in the 9th and 10th year. 

Taxes on wine, beer, pork, and chicken will also be cleared within 10 years. EU Chief Negotiator for the EVFTA Mauro Petriccione said Europeans should realize that their welfare depends on trade. 

They should be aware that FTAs contribute a great deal to their prosperity, Mauro said.

Consumers in Vietnam and the EU will be able to buy high quality products at reasonable prices. 

Businesses on both sides will face tough competition as well as a great opportunity to penetrate and earn profits from the other’s markets. 

With the establishment of the ASEAN Community, EU businesses can expand their business with ASEAN countries through Vietnam.

To keep the EVFTA on track

To ensure the EVFTA’s progress, Vietnam has adopted inventive policies to attract foreign investment and open government procurement markets to EU businesses. 

Vietnam’s Chief negotiator for EVFTA, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Quoc Khanh said, “We’ve worked out a specific roadmap and both sides have closely followed the progress. This is the 2nd legal review and one or two more legal review sessions will be held before the end of this year. We’ll have to translate the documents before entering other stages.”

The EU’s Chief Negotiator for the EVFTA Mauro Petriccione said the EU has a rule for fast ratification of the agreement before its member states ratify it. Vietnam and the EU are set to put the EVFTA into effect in 2018.

“We are on the legal review step and we have kept to our schedule. There are a lot of technical issues but we expect to complete legal review by the end of this year. Then we have to translate the agreement into Vietnamese and all the EU languages. We hope to reduce the time for translating the documents,” he said.

It took 2 and half years to conclude the EVFTA negotiation, an impressively short time for an FTA negotiation.

Vietnamnet

25/09/2016

Quote from: “http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/164273/vietnam–eu-set-to-implement-fta-in-early-2018.html“

Vietnam’s textile-garment exports still increased in the first first eight months of this year but at a slower pace than in the same period last year.

Vietnam shipped abroad US$18.7 billion worth of textile-garment products in the January-August period, up 4.4% year-on-year, according to the Vietnam Cotton and Spinning Association (VCOSA).

VCOSA vice chairman Nguyen Hong Giang said the growth slowed compared to that in previous years and below expectations due to a lack of orders and falling demand on global markets.

If the tough situation continues, it will be hard for the sector to earn US$29 billion in revenue this year, which is even lower the target of US$31 billion set earlier this year, Giang said at a news briefing on Tuesday to introduce the 16th Vietnam International Textile and Garment Industry Exhibition (VTG 2016) slated to take place in November.

The decrease in export orders resulted from mounting competition from rivals including China, India, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka. In addition, Cambodia and Myanmar enjoy tax incentives when selling textile-garment products to the European Union (EU), making their products even more competitive.

In the past two weeks, a number of textile and garment exporters have had no orders to fulfill, said Pham Xuan Hong, chairman of the HCMC Association of Garment-Textile-Embroidery-Knitting (AGTEK).

Given fierce competition on global markets, Hong suggested firms invest in advanced machinery and equipment, choose high-quality materials to cut production costs and raise the competitiveness of their products, and focus on free-on-board (FOB) contracts.

Besides competition, domestic apparel firms are grappling with difficulties, brought about by the minimum wage rise and regulations on inspections.

Fewer foreign direct investment (FDI) approvals have been registered for the textile and garment industry this year than in previous years.

In 2014 and 2015, many foreign enterprises rushed to invest in the sector to capitalize on opportunities from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement, which allows firms to enjoy tax breaks when exporting products to member states.

But investors are in standby mode in the U.S. election year as it the election result could affect the future of the multilateral trade pact, Giang of VCOSA said.

Hong of AGTEK shared Giang’s view, saying that the implementation of FDI projects in Vietnam’s garment and textile sector may be slower than scheduled as investors would wait for the U.S. presidential election result.

But Giang said Vietnam is still attractive to foreign investors thanks to its free trade agreements with Japan, South Korea and the EU, not to mention the fact that the production cost in Vietnam is cheaper than in many other markets.

Up to many foreign retailers want to choose Vietnam to invest instead of China, Giang said, citing data from the U.S. Fashion Industry Association (USFIA).

Vietnamnet

25/09/2016

Quote from: “http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/164245/textile-garment-export-growth-cools.html“

The Vietnam Textile and Garment Association (VITAS) and Mexico’s National Chamber of Textile Industry (Canaintex) expect the value of Vietnamese exports to Mexico to double in 3-4 years after the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is implemented. This is because tariff on Vietnamese goods exported to Mexico would fall to zero from the current 30 per cent.

To lay foundation for bilateral garment cooperation between the two countries, a delegation from Canintex recently visited Vietnam. The team visited several factories and a garment and textile industrial park during their one week stay.

Once TPP agreement comes into effect, Vietnam’s garment and textile exports will rise sharply and its market share in TPP member countries would increase substantially due to preferential tax policies, Canaintex representatives said.

Vietnam has targeted to increase its garment and textile exports from $28 billion at present to $50 billion by 2020, according to VITAS. Of the $28 billion, nearly $11 billion worth of garments were exported to the US, another TPP member country, last year. (RKS)

Fashion Network

12/09/2016

Quote from: “http://us.fashionnetwork.com/news/TPP-to-boost-Vietnamese-garment-exports-to-Mexico,730971.html#.V-JIpoh95dh“

As planning with vision towards 2030 is obsolete, the Vietnam Textile and Garment Association (VITAS) has asked the government to review and adjust development planning for the industry. Under the current plan, the industry’s export value was targeted to reach $20 billion by 2020 but the figure exceeded $27 billion last year and is expected to hit $31 billion this year. Right from 2010 to 2015, the industry had a stable growth of export value of 15 per cent per year.

Vietnam’s demographics that consists of a population structure with more than double the number of working age than dependents was advantageous for the expansion of the sector. The reason is that only then the Government can help the industry keep up with the country’s integration and make use of the abundant resources.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, Hồ Thị Kim Thoa observed that global textile and garment producers were shifting their place of production to places that had a good labour force and lower production costs. He endorsed VITAS’ recommendation, saying that the industry should make changes to its planning as it was enjoying opportunities stemming from the country joining free trade agreements.

To help textile and garment firms take advantage of opportunities and overcome challenges brought by free trade agreements, the Association suggested the government should update development strategy that was approved by the then Prime Minister in 2008 and the ministry of industry and trade in 2014. VITAS has asked the government to create a development strategy to 2025 with a vision towards 2040. It also wants the government group textile and garment enterprises in concentrated industrial parks.

Currently, there are several textile and garment industrial zones in the northern provinces of Hưng Yên, Thái Bình and Nam Định and the southern province of Đồng Nai and Bình Dương, which cover a few hundred hectares each. VITAS suggested the government allow establishment of textile and garment industrial zones with 500-1,000 ha to draw domestic and foreign capital.

FashionatingWorld

10/9/2016

Quote from: “http://www.fashionatingworld.com/new1-2/item/6885-vita-asks-vietnam-government-to-review-development-planning-for-industry.html“