The seminar was jointly held by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF) - Vietnam.
Photo for illustration. (Source: hanoimoi.com.vn)
The event aimed to provide information on business opportunities with the German market offered by EVFTA; at the same time, launching an online information page on Vietnam - Germany import and export.
Germany was the second biggest buyer of Vietnamese goods in the European Union (EU) and the seventh biggest in the world last year. Germany was also the second largest goods supplier of Vietnam in the EU, and the 14th biggest in the world.
VCCI Vice Chairman Hoang Quang Phong said trade between Vietnam and Germany increased from 5.6 billion USD in 2011 when the two countries set up their strategic partnership to 10 billion USD last year.
In particular, exports from Vietnam to Germany during the period also achieved a growth rate of about 11.5% a year. However, this increase is still low compared to the growth of Vietnam’s exports to other markets in the same period (14.9% a year). Two-way trade between Vietnam and Germany now accounts for only 1.83% of Vietnam’s total trade, much lower than other partners.
The EVFTA is expected to create breakthroughs in bilateral trade ties, as the agreement removes up to 99.2% of tariff lines for Vietnamese goods to Germany as of seven years after coming into force, and 98.3% of tariff lines for German products imported in the Vietnamese market after 10 years.
Vietnam’s export products seeing great opportunities for export to the market are footwear, clothing, seafood, plastic products, fruits, nuts and a number of other agricultural products.
At the event, Ms. Nguyen Cam Trang, Deputy Director of the Import-Export Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, informed that many key export products of Vietnam have taken advantage of opportunities from the EVFTA over the past year to increase exports to the German market, such as means of transport and spare parts up 71.6%, iron and steel up 53.2%, computers and electronics up 34%, and seafood up 15.5%./.