HÀ NỘI — During the first 10 months of the free trade agreement between Việt Nam and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), total trade turnover between the sides grew 32 per cent, with exports from Việt Nam to EAEU countries increasing 28 per cent.

The relatively balanced growth in exports and imports shows that the VN-EAEU agreement is built on the principle of equality and transparency, said Mukai A. Kadyrkulov, Member of the Board, Minister for Customs Cooperation, Eurasian Economic Commission, at an event on Thursday marking the pact’s first anniversary.

Đặng Hoàng Hải, director of the European Market Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), agreed that the EAEU trade agreement has strongly promoted trade, investment and cooperation in many fields.

The VN-EAEU FTA has been a strong impetus for the development of economic and trade relations between its participants, and an important step towards a commercial partnership across the wider regions of ASEAN nations and the EU, said Konstantin Vnukov, Russian ambassador to Việt Nam.

New markets

Some businesses have found completely new markets with impressive growth, such as radio navigation equipment, the exported amount of which has increased more than 900 times from Việt Nam to EAEU countries, remarked Kadyrkulov.

He attributed the progress to the tariff reduction of 43 per cent for all Vietnamese goods. Over the next 10 years, the amount of duty-free imported goods from Việt Nam to the EAEU market will be constantly increasing and will account for 90 per cent of the latter’s unified tariff schedules.

Vladimir Goshin, Belarusian Ambassador to Việt Nam, said trade turnover between Việt Nam and Belarus in the first eight months of 2017 showed a balanced bilateral exports and imports volume of around US$37 million. Goshin also noted that Vietnamese businesses are more active than ever in taking advantage of the preferential trade opportunities offered by the agreement to boost their exports.

Goshin said Belarus considers Việt Nam an important partner to strengthen its position in Southeast Asia.

The new Việt Nam-Belarus automobile manufacture and assemble joint venture, the Minsk Automobile Plant in Hưng Yên Province, is expected to begin operations by the end of the year, promoting cooperation to increase the localisation rate of products as well as technology transfer.

Nevertheless, Hải from the European Market Department noted that according to MoIT data, the number of businesses from both sides taking advantage of the FTA is roughly 20 to 30 per cent, due to differences in language, culture, taste, consumption habits, and said he hoped that over time, such difficulties would gradually be resolved.

The conference was held at the Russian Centre of Science and Culture in Hà Nội., with the participation of ambassadors from EAEU member states, representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Việt Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and other nations’ chambers of commerce in Việt Nam. — VNS