(VOVworld)- Vietnam and the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) signed a Free Trade Agreement in Kazakhstan on Friday. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and the Prime Ministers from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan and Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Economic Union Viktor Khristenko attended the signing ceremony.
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung (R) signs the free trade agreement between Vietnam and the Eurasia Economic Union. Photo: VNA |
In his address, Viktor Khristenko said the agreement created a breakthrough in boosting trade and economic ties between Vietnam and EEU members and paving the way for the Union to boost ties with East Asia and the Asia Pacific region. He said the agreement will help Vietnamese enterprises approach a potential market of 175 million people and GDP of more than 2.5 trillion USD. Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said it’s a great honor for Vietnam to become the first international partner signing the FTA agreement with EEU: “The agreement reflects the EEU’s strategic vision towards cooperation with the Asia Pacific, a dynamic region and a motivation for the global economic growth. The agreement will contribute to the economic development of each country, increase the exchanges of bilateral trade, services, and investment and expand bilateral cooperation in the region. Being an active member of ASEAN, Vietnam will exert efforts to help the EEU expand ties with ASEAN, a dynamic unified market with more than 600 million people and GDP of 2.5 trillion USD”.
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung says doing business with Vietnam, EEU’s members will have opportunities to approach major economies including the US, Japan, the EU, China, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the Republic of Korea. The Prime Minister asked other EEU member states to soon complete approval procedures for the agreement, in order to quickly put the incentives to use, thus further promoting economic, trade and investment cooperation in the near future. At a meeting with the Prime Ministers of these five countries, Mr. Dung said Vietnam was ready to facilitate their enterprises to invest in Vietnam, especially in mining, energy, oil and gas, engineering, chemicals, and tourism. He said Vietnam wants to expand investment in these countries in the fields of light industry, processing and oil and gas exploration.
EEU Prime Ministers expressed their hope to strengthen cooperation with Vietnam and expand ties with other ASEAN member countries and in the Asia Pacific region. They promised to encourage their enterprises to boost economic cooperation with Vietnam.
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung meets Prime Minister Nursultan Nazarbayev |
At a meeting with Kazakh Prime Minister Nursultan Nazarbayev the same day, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said Vietnam treasured ties with Kazakhstan, Vietnam’s major partner in central Asia. The two sides pledged support for Vietnam Oil and Gas Corporation and the Kazakhstan Oil and Gas Corporation to jointly explore and exploit oil and gas in each other’s countries. With regard to the East Sea issue, Prime Minister Narzabayev expressed his support for solving disputes peacefully and maintaining peace, stability, security and safety of navigation and aviation in the region.
The two Prime Ministers witnessed the signing of an exchange note approving the Judicial Assistance Agreement, a Cooperation Program in the 2015-2017 period and a Cultural Cooperation Agreement.
At their meeting on the same day, Prime Minister Dung and Kyrgyzstan Prime Minister Sariev agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation, increase delegation exchanges and fine-tune legal framework for bilateral ties.