Vietnam to Tap Into ‘Huge Market’ via Free Trade Deal With EEU – Russian Prime Minister

Vietnam's potential free trade agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) will be the first of its kind, ensuring the Asian country's access to a huge market, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said.

The EEU was established in May 2014 by Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, with Armenia joining in October and Kyrgyzstan signing its accession treaty in December of that year.

"The free trade agreement will likely be the first such agreement to be signed between the Eurasian Economic Union and an individual country. This would give Vietnam access to a huge market, which includes not only Russia but also its partners," Medvedev said in an interview with Vietnamese media ahead of his visit to the country on April 6-7.

The prime minister said the potential agreement could open new ways for cooperation, with Russia already being in final talks with Vietnam, having made progress on many issues.

"The planned agreement would not only open the Vietnamese market to Russian commodities, but would also give our Vietnamese partners access to the Russian market," Medvedev said.

He added that Russia was ready to create conditions for mutual investment, which would require extra work on the investment aspect of the free trade agreement so that Russian companies could succeed in the Vietnamese market.

In February, an EEU press service representative said the agreement on the establishment of a free trade zone between Vietnam and the EEU could be signed in the first half of 2015.

According to EEU Trade Minister Andrey Slepnev, the creation of a free trade zone between the union and Vietnam could boost the trade between the parties, which currently stands at $4 billion to $10 billion within a few years, once the agreement comes into force.

Source: sputniknews