21/09/2020

Date: September 2020

Implementing agency: Economica Vietnam and GOPA

For more than three decades, the Vietnamese economy has gradually opened from a closed economy to one of the most integrated economies in the world. Currently, the EU is one of the largest trade and investment partners of Vietnam and will continue to strengthen this role in the future.

The EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) was first ratified by the EU and then by the National Assembly of Vietnam, in the midst of the pandemic. After the completed ratification, the EVFTA entered into force on 1st of August 2020. This historical agreement brings hope and new growth opportunities to both parties of the agreement. Once fully implemented it will contribute to economic recovery in a post-COVID world. Whilst foreign direct investment (FDI) is already fully covered by the EVFTA, the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) will provide enhanced protection for the EU investors and investments once the EU finalizes its ratification. Vietnam has already ratified the EVIPA together with the EVFTA.

In such a context, the EU Delegation to Vietnam organizes a series of roundtables on economic and business development in the context of a post Covid-19 world and of the EVFTA. The first of the series is with the theme “The EVFTA and Vietnam’s integration in global value chains in a post-COVID 19 world”. The roundtables are to be implemented by EU Delegation in Vietnam under the framework of the EU-Vietnam Partnership Facility (VPF). The reader which is prepared by Dr. Le Duy Binh and Dr. Tran Thi Phuong of Economica Vietnam and GOPA is to provide background information for the roundtable.

Documents are attached in the file below:

• Report: EVFTA, EVIPA and Vietnam's integration in global value chains in a post-Covid 19 world