Russian news website Lenta.ru reported that Vietnam has set a world record on the number of free trade agreements (FTA) signed with foreign partners in one year, quoting a remark by an expert of the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC).
According to RIAC Media and Government Relations Manager Anton Tsvetov, Vietnam has struck free trade pacts with the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) and the Republic of Korea (RoK) and completed the negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement in 2015.
Most recently on December 2, Vietnam and the European Union (EU) inked an announcement to officially conclude the negotiations on the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), he said.
EU experts commented that the FTA with Vietnam is a stepping-stone towards the liberalisation of trade with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Vietnam is the second nation, after Singapore , to become a member of the free trade area with the EU, Tsvetov said.
The signing of the free trade deals has indicated that Vietnamese leaders are bringing the country into global economic integration via specific steps to expand export markets, diversify business environment and import goods sources, and attract more overseas investors, the expert said, adding that this is useful for the country’s technology transfer and State-run enterprise equitisation.
VNA
