A webinar on chances brought by the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) for Vietnamese and French businesses took place on July 8.

It was jointly held by the Ministry of Industry and Trade and France’s Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs.

As the EVFTA is due to take effect on August 1, the event aimed to provide French businesses with information on Vietnam’s trade and investment policies following the deal, as well as on the potential market with a population of nearly 100 million and the gateway to ASEAN.

At the event, Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh noted that the Vietnam-France trade and investment ties have enjoyed favourable conditions after 50 years of the diplomatic relations and seven years of the strategic partnership, with economic ties as a pillar.

France is among leading partners of Vietnam as the fourth largest export market of the Southeast Asian country. The Vietnam-France trade and investment ties will turn over a new promising page to overcome challenges after the EVFTA take effects, he added.

He hoped to further cooperate with French partners in the fields of clean and renewable energy, high technology, agriculture, processing and manufacturing, among others.

The minister pledged that Vietnam will create optimal conditions in terms of investment climate and infrastructure for French companies to capitalise on benefits brought by the EVFTA.

Vietnamese firms are urged to improve business models and management to meet requirements and trends of the European market.  

Statistics showed that two-way trade tripled to US$5.3 billion in 2019 from roughly US$1.6 billion 10 years ago, making France the third largest trade partner of Vietnam in Europe, only after Germany and the Netherlands.

As of May 2020, France had invested in 588 projects in Vietnam with a combined capital of US$3.56 billion, ranking second among the European investors in Vietnam.

In the first five months of this year, export-import value of the two nations slipped 18.66% year-on-year to US$1.77 billion due to the impact of COVID-19. Vietnam shipped products worth US$1.2 billion to France in the period.