Policy update
Thu y D ung
UKVFTA officially becomes effective
T
he UKVFTA was officially inked on 29 December, 2020 in London, the UK and has temporarily taken effect since 1 January, 2021. The UKVFTA was negotiated based on principles included in the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and were amended in accordance with the bilateral trade framework between Vietnam and the UK. This is the “third generation” FTA Vietnam has signed, which helps maintain and strengthen tradeeconomic cooperation framework between the two nations. The trade deal will make it easier for the two countries to promote cooperation in finance-banking and e-commerce as well as enhance the protection of intellectual property, geographical indication, clean growth, and sustainable development. According to the Agreement’s Clause 2a of the Article 9, the deal shall enter into force on the first day of the second month after the date of receipt of the Parties' final notice on the completion of internal legal procedures. Thus, the UKVFTA will officially take effect from 1 May, 2021. According to the UKVFTA commitments, after six years the agreement takes effect, the UK will abolish import taxes on 99.2 per cent of tariff lines, equivalent to 99.7 percent
of Vietnam's export turnover. The EU has committed to giving Vietnam a tariff rate quota (TRQ) with an import tax of 0 percent for some products.
Vietnam and the UK this year. In 2020, the total import-export turnover between the two countries reached USD5.64 billion.
Data from the General Department of Vietnam Customs shows that in the first two months of this year, two-way trade turnover between Vietnam and the UK reached USD1.024 billion, up 20.05 percent over the same period last year. This shows that the UKVFTA Agreement has created an important impetus in the trade exchange between
By the end of December 2020, the UK had 411 investment projects in Vietnam, with a total registered capital of USD3.84 billion, ranking 15th out of 139 countries that have investment projects in Vietnam. The UK's important investment projects focused on finance, banking, oil, and renewable energy.
19
m ay 2 0 2 1
