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| Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien and Israeli Minister of Economy and Industry Nir Barkat sign VIFTA on July 25. (Photo: MOIT) |
The Ministry of Industry and Trade said that the Vietnam - Israel Free Trade Agreement (VIFTA) was signed on July 25, on the occasion of the official visit of Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang to Israel.
Israel is the first country in West Asia to sign an FTA with Vietnam and Vietnam is also the first member in Southeast Asia to have a trade agreement with Israel.
VIFTA consists of 15 chapters and several appendices that outline commitments on trade in goods, services - investment, rules of origin, technical barriers to trade (TBT), sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS), customs, trade remedies, government procurement, and legal - institutional arrangements.
The roadmap for tax reduction as committed by Vietnam and Israel is 85.8% and 92.7%, respectively. The two sides expect two-way trade turnover to reach USD3 billion in the near future.
The signed VIFTA will help Vietnamese enterprises export strong products, access high-tech goods and services from Israel with more competitive production and business costs. Vietnamese businesses also have easy access to other markets in the Middle East, North Africa and Southern Europe.
Meanwhile, Israeli businesses also have the opportunity to access ASEAN, Asia - Pacific and other major economies in the 16 FTAs that Vietnam has joined.
Israel is one of Vietnam's leading trade, investment and labor partners in the region. This country is also currently the third largest export market and the fifth largest trading partner of Vietnam in West Asia.
Last year, import-export turnover between the two countries reached USD2.2 billion, up nearly 18% over the same period in 2021, of which, Vietnam exported nearly USD786 million and imported USD1.4 billion.
To date, Vietnam has signed 16 bilateral and multilateral FTAs. As a result, in 2022, Vietnam's import and export turnover reached a record number of USD732.5 billion, up 9.5% compared to 2021.
Currently, Vietnam is participating in the negotiation of 3 other FTAs, namely Vietnam - EFTA (Switzerland, Norway, Ireland, Liechtenstein), ASEAN - Canada and Vietnam with the UAE./.