Ambassadors of the Eurasian Economic Union and Vietnamese officials review their FTA in Hanoi on December 18, 2019.   (Photo: congthuong.vn)

Ambassadors of the Union and Vietnamese officials met in Hanoi on Wednesday to review the FTA. They acknowledged a dramatic increase in trade revenue growth, from 5% in the 2011-2015 period to 30% at the end of 2016.

By the end of September this year, bilateral trade totaled 3.7 billion USD and is expected to total 5 billion USD this year. Vietnam’s trade with Russia accounts for 92% of that total, followed by Kazakhstan. However, this still falls short of the cooperation potentials between Vietnam and the five EAEU states, participants noted.

Phan Huy Anh of the Department of the European - American Market under the Ministry of Industry and Trade said: “Both sides should work to remove non-tariff barriers and digitize administrative and customs procedures. They should recognize each other’s certificates of origin for agricultural products, negotiate exemptions of threshold preventive measures and equivalent recognitions in animal quarantine, and make several amendments to principles of origin. The Government and the Ministry of Industry and Trade will promote the FTA to more enterprises and work with them to resolve difficulties.”

Russian Ambassador to Vietnam Konstantin Vnukov suggested the installation of a comprehensive shared information system.

He said: “EAEU enterprises must find ways to advertise themselves in Vietnam, including organizing professional conferences. For example, many multi-million-dollar contracts were signed at a recent Russian exhibition in Vietnam. Additionally, we should remove the existing non-tariff barriers. We can replace ordinary food safety certificates with e-certificates.”

The Eurasian Economic Union comprises five members: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia.