The legal review for the EVFTA ended

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In addition, the two parties also agreed on the contents of the Agreement on Investment Protection between Vietnam and the European Union. The EU Trade Commissioner and the Minister of Industry and Trade of Vietnam agreed to submit to the competent authorities of both parties soon to be able to proceed to formally sign and then ratify both Agreements.

The EVFTA was announced by the leaders of Vietnam and the EU at the end of negotiations on 2nd December 2015, and the two parties reviewed the legislation to prepare for the signing. However, there is a change in the process of approval of EU free trade agreements.

Under the new EU regulations, similarly to other EU partners such as Japan and Singapore, the EU has proposed to separate the content of investment protection and dispute resolution mechanism between the State and the investors (ISDS) from EVFTA into a separate agreement (called Investment Protection Agreement - IPA).

After a period of active exchanges, the two parties formally completed the legal review process of the EVFTA Agreement and agreed on the entire contents of the IPA which was separated from the former EVFTA.

The EVFTA and IPA have been launched and concluded in the context of bilateral relationship between Vietnam and the EU developing well, particularly in the economic and trade field.

Vietnam and the EU also discussed the cooperation roadmap in the coming time so as to ensure the best conditions for the development of economic and trade relations between the two parties, including EU assistance to Vietnam to improve capacity, thereby taking advantages of the EVFTA when it is signed and put into practice.

This support framework will help Viet Nam continue to build its legal system, support the implementation of commitments under EVFTA, improve the competitiveness of small and medium enterprises, etc., towards the final objective of strengthening bilateral trade and investment on the basis of mutual benefit.

EU is now the third largest trading partner and one of the two largest export markets for Vietnam. The prominent feature of the import-export structure between Vietnam and the EU is the great complementarity with less direct competition.

Two-way trade has increased more than 12-fold, from US$ 4.1 billion in 2000 to US$ 50.4 billion in 2017; Of which, Vietnam's exports to the EU increased 13.6-fold (from US $ 2.8 billion to US $ 38.3 billion) and imports to Vietnam from the EU increased more than 9-fold (from US $ 1.3 billion to US $ 12.3 billion). Vietnam’s key export groups to the EU are footwear, textiles, coffee, furniture and seafood.

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The EU is also a big investor in Vietnam. As of 2017, 24 out of 28 EU countries have invested in Vietnam with about 2,000 projects in validity and total registered capital of over US $ 21.5 billion. The EU investors have been present in most of Vietnam's key economic sectors, focusing most on industry, construction and some service sectors.