The European Union and Vietnam are expected to sign trade and investment agreements in Hanoi, Vietnam on 30 June, paving the way for more seafood products to flow into the bloc.
The European Commission said in a statement on Tuesday that the Council of Ministers approved the E.U.-Vietnam free trade agreement and investment protection agreement on 25 June. E.U. Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström and Romanian Minister for Business, Trade, and Entrepreneurship Ștefan-Radu Oprea will sign the agreements on the E.U.'s behalf in Hanoi on Sunday, 30 June.
“After Singapore, the agreements with Vietnam are the second to have been concluded between the E.U. and a Southeast Asian country, and represent stepping stones to a greater engagement between Europe and the region," Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, said.
The free trade agreement will eliminate nearly all customs duties on goods traded between the two sides in a progressive way that fully respects Vietnam's development needs, the statement said.
Once the deal comes into effect, seafood exporters from the Southeast Asian nation will have “huge opportunities” to speed up exports to the E.U., the Directorate of Fisheries of Vietnam said in a public announcement. About half of the import taxes on seafood products from Vietnam to the E.U. will be removed immediately after the agreement comes into effect, with the remainder will be eliminated within seven years from the effective date of the pact. The E.U., however, will give Vietnam annual quotas for duty-free imports of 11,500 metric tons (MT) of canned tuna and 500 MT of canned fish balls. Additional volumes beyond the quotas will be taxed, according to reports from the directorate and the Vietnamese Finance Ministry’s National Institute for Finance.
Pangasius and shrimp are two major seafood products that Vietnam exports to the E.U. According to Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), exports of pangasius from Vietnam to the E.U. were worth USD 105.2 million (EUR 92.3 million) from 1 January to 15 May this year, up 31.5 percent from 2018. Vietnam gained USD 184 million (EUR 161.7 million) from exports of shrimp to E.U. in the first four months, falling 25.7 percent year-on year.
