Illustrative image (Source: VNA)

The document will be sent to the President and then the NationalAssembly for consideration.

The European Parliament (EP)’s Committee onInternational Trade (INTA) adopted recommendations for the EVFTA and theEU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) in Brussels on January 21,according to the MoIT’s Multilateral Trade Policy Department.

The recommendations for the EVFTA were approved with 29 votes in favour, sixagainst, and five abstains; and that on the IPA got 26 approval votes out ofthe 39,
The voting event saw the participation of 40members of the INTA under the chair of INTA chairman Bernd Lange.

The EVFTA consists of 17 chapters, twoprotocols and some memoranda of understanding on trade, goods, services,investment, trade remedies, competition, State businesses, governmentprocurement, and intellectual property.

Once the agreement comes into effect, the EUwill eliminate import tariffs for nearly 86 percent of the tariff lines andover 99 percent of tariff lines will be lifted after seven years. This is thefirst FTA that the EU has signed with a developing country.

Meanwhile, the IPA includes modern regulationson investment protection that allow enforcement and implementation through anew system of investment courts as well as ensure the two sides’ governments’rights to regulate benefits of their citizens.

The plenary session of the EP is expected to voteon the two agreements in mid-February this year.

If ratified by the EP, the EVFTA will comeinto force a month after the two sides notify each other that the legal processis over. Meanwhile, the IPA will still need approval by the parliaments of eachEU member state, which could take several years./.VNA