(VOVworld) - Vietnam and the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan have made marked progress in a number of issues during their 6th round of free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations.
Meeting in Sochi, Russia, from June 16-20, working groups of Vietnam and the Customs Union aimed to solve pending issues to complete the content of the agreement by the end of 2014 as scheduled. Eight groups worked very hard on Trade in Goods, Services, Investment and Movement of Natural Persons, Rules of Origin, Government procurement, safeguard Measures; Customs Cooperation, Trade Facilitation, Intellectual Property, and Institutional Provisions.
Chief negotiator of the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan Andrey Slepnhev said: “We have achieved positive results just like what we agreed upon since our meeting in Da Nang. The negotiations took place in a friendly and positive manner and no doubt future negotiations will be completed in time.”
Head of the Vietnamese delegation, Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang said: “There are just a few pending issues and our approaches have been narrowed. We believe the results of this round of negotiations will ensure the success of future talks.”
The 7th round of talks will be held in September in Russia.