Vietnam – South Korea Free Trade Agreement officially signed

(QNO) - On May 5th, in the presence of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, Mr Vu Huy Hoang -  Minister of the Ministry of Trade and Industry and Mr Yoon Sang-jick – Minister of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (Korea), representing to Vietnam and South Korea Governments officially signed Vietnam – (Republic of) Korea Free Trade Agreement (VKFTA).

The signing ceremony.

Vietnam and South Korea have agreed the entire contents of VKFTA after 2 years of negotiations. This agreement is comprehensive, has a high commitment and ensures a balance of benefits. It includes 17 hapters, 208 Articles, 15 Annexes and 1 implementation agreement.

The main contents of the Agreement are: Goods, Services (including Annexes on telecommunications, finance and personal movement), Investment, Intellectual Property, Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS), Rules of Origin, Customs Facilitation, Trade Remedies, Technical Barriers to Trade, E-Commerce, Competition, Economic Cooperation, Institutions and Law.

The VKFTA is the first free trade agreement between Vietnam and other economic partners. It was basically completed in 2014 and officially signed in 2015. It’s expected that this agreement will bring Vietnam positive impacts in many ways.

The signing of VKFTA will help Vietnam to improve its business environment, allocate and use social recourses more efficiently, foster the process of restructuring the economy towards higher value added and  sustainable development goals.

Vietnam’s export will have many new business opportunities thanks to S. Korea’s strong commitments to market access.

The obvious – clear legal environment will speed up the investment from S. Korea into Vietnam, along with high technology, advanced management skills and opportunities to the third markets.

Vietnam and Korea also agreed to the Implementation Agreement of Economic Commitments. Accordingly, S. Korea will support Vietnam to make and implement policies, improve competitiveness in the fields such as: agriculture, fishery, forestry, electronic industry, petrochemistry and supporting industry.

Besides, it’s expected that VKFTA will bring many positive social benefits. It creates more employment opportunities for workers in Vietnam, raise income especially to  unskilled labor, contribute to the poverty reduction.

Signing the VKFTA is a specific step in active integration strategy which focuses  on international economic integration, supports the restructuring process, implements  national industrialization and modernization. At the same time, it also develops Vietnam – S. Korea strategic partner relationship, contributes to maintain and promote the peace in the area. The approved procedures will be implemented under regulations of each country.

The Agreement will come into force after 1 month from the date when both sides report it in written documents on  diplomatic channels about completing internal procedures or on any other day agreed by both sides.