(VOVworld)- The fifth Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiation round between Vietnam and the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia will conclude in Kazakhstan on Friday.
In this latest round, the parties have focused their discussions on hammering out key trade issues including rules of origin, customs-related issues, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, investment, government procurement, institutional and legal framework, and dispute resolution.
Dang Hoang Hai, head of Vietnam’s technical negotiation delegation, commented on the advantages Vietnam and others will get when they sign the FTA. “The most obvious advantage is that goods will receive huge tax breaks. Many kinds of goods will enjoy tax rated as low as 0%. In addition, there will be lots of favorable conditions for trade growth. Any FTA will create challenges for signatories. Once tariff barriers are removed, enterprises will be pressured by increased competition. But with this FTA, there will not be many challenges”.

Under the FTA, Vietnam and Customs Union members will achieve a higher trade turnover, predicted to exceed 10 billion USD by 2020.