Vietnamis under the negotiations for aseries of FTA with countries and blocs. According to the Ministry of Industryand Trade (MOIT), to date, Vietnamand Chilehas conducted seven negotiation sessions on a bilateral FTA. The ministrybelieves that it is very likely that the two sides will reach an FTA after somemore negotiation sessions.
Meanwhile, Vietnam and Canada have reached the consensuseson basic points for the Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection AgreementFIPA, which is expected to be signed right in 2011.
The issuesrelating to the possible impacts of the FTA on the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, are being considered bythe Vietnamese agencies and the union’s agencies. Recently, the EU has beenjoining forces to organize events in Vietnam where the advantages areanalyzed if the two sides sign an FTA.
TheEuropean Free Trade Association EFTA, including Norway, Switzerland, Icelandand Liechtenstein, and Vietnam, have formed up a taskforce in charge ofresearching and reporting the possibility to conduct negotiations for an FTAbetween Vietnam and EFTA.
In Asia, Vietnam, as amember of ASEAN bloc, is joining the FTA negotiations with big partners.Besides, it is also possible that Vietnamwould conduct negotiations for the FTA between Vietnamand Laos and between Vietnam and Taiwan.
TheTrans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement or TPP, if successfullynegotiated, is believed to help open the door to one of the most importantmarket area for Vietnam.At the latest sixth negotiation rounds, the countries including Brunei, Chile,Malaysia, New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Singapore, the US and Vietnam discussedthe issues relating to the trade promotion.
TPP is thearea which has the gross domestic products GDP of up to 16 trillion dollars,the total population of 472 million. TPP has been described as the mostambitious trade integration process in the history of Asia-Pacific.
With theFTA which were signed or will be signed in the future, Vietnamese enterpriseshave a lot of opportunities to expand the export markets.
As for theexport to the EU, for example, experts can foresee the sharp increases in theexport of some product items to the market, once the FTA between Vietnam and EUis signed and takes effect.
IfVietnamese garment products can enjoy the import tariff of zero percent whenentering the EU market, they will have big advantages over the products fromBangladesh, China, India or Pakistan, because the products from the nations areimposed the average tax rate of 11 percent, according to Claudio Dordi, anexpert from Multrap project (the European Union's Multilateral Trade AssistanceProject).
The sameadvantages will also be enjoyed by Vietnamese footwear producers oncepreferential tariffs are applied under the frame of the Vietnam-EU FTA.
Regardingthe Russian market, Le Van Dao, Deputy Chair of the Vietnam Textile and ApparelAssociation (Vitas), said Vietnamese enterprises can exploit the market and canraise the export turnover to Russiato one billion dollars, if they can enjoy preferential tariffs.
Russiais the market which has a very highdemand for garment products, but it is imposing overly high tariffs, therefore,Vietnamese garment companies still cannot cement their positions in the market.
“However,the situation will be different, and Vietnamese enterprises will haveopportunities to boost exports to the market if an FTA is signed,” Dao said.
In fact,Vietnamese enterprises still cannot take full advantage of the signed FTAs. Forexample, the growth rate of garment exports to Japan is modest at 10 percent perannum.