Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh and Cuban Vice President of the Council of Ministers Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz signed the Vietnam - Cuba Trade Agreement under the witness of Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong and President of the Council of State and Council of Ministers Miguel Diaz Canel on November 9th, 2018. (Photo: congthuong.vn)
The agreement, signed in Hanoi on November 9th, 2018, replaced the agreement between the two Governments on trade and other forms of economic cooperation, signed in 1996. The agreement, which provides many new preferential trade commitments, is expected to gradually raise economic and trade cooperation between the two countries on a par with good bilateral political relations.
With 14 chapters, the Vietnam - Cuba Trade Agreement includes provisions on goods trade, rules of origin, customs management and trade facilitation, technical standards, food safety, plant and animal quarantine, and economic and trade cooperation. Accordingly, the two sides committed to abolishing or reducing taxes for nearly 100% of items imported from each other's market within 5 years.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the agreement will contribute to creating a stable and open legal framework, thus promoting bilateral trade and investment relations.
In particular, the agreement will bring tremendous benefits to the business communities of the two sides, create favorable conditions for the import and export of goods to each other's markets, and promote two-way trade turnover, contributing to bringing Vietnam-Cuba economic and trade relations to new height.
Over the past years, Vietnam - Cuba economic and trade cooperation has made significant progress, with two-way trade turnover of over USD200 million per year. Cuba is always one of the ten key markets of Vietnam in Latin America./.