(VOVworld) - The Euro Presse Image on Friday ran an article entitled “EU-Vietnam: moving towards a free trade agreement”.

A modern assembly line to polish, grind, and dry rice. (Photo: Le Sen/VNA)

According to the report, after 2 years of negotiations, the European Union and Vietnam are coming closer to a bilateral free trade deal which will lift almost all tariff barriers and open completely the door to the Vietnamese market for European businesses.

The agreement covers areas of commodities, services, investment, and government procurement.

The article quotes Cecilia Malmstrom, European Commissioner for Trade, as saying that with the EU’s investment development potential, Vietnam will likely become a transit for EU trade and investment activities in ASEAN.

This will boost Vietnam’s economic restructuring and change its growth model in a positive direction.

The completion of the FTA will help Vietnam integrate fully into the global economy as a market economy.

Over the past decade, two-way trade between Vietnam and the EU has increased 200% to stand at 28 billion euros now. Vietnam is the EU’s fourth largest trading partner in ASEAN.