Vietnam accelerates the process for EVFTA to come into effect

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EVFTA (Photo VTV)

The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) on Thursday said the country has been aggressively preparing for the approval process.

According to EU internal procedures, the EVFTA needs to be ratified by the European Parliament (EP) and then signed by the European Council to take effect.

On February 12, the EP voted to approve EVFTA with 63.35 per cent of the votes in favor. According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, on March 30, the European Council also approved the Vietnam - EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), completing the final legal procedure according to the internal approval process of the EU.

Therefore, EVFTA will only need to be ratified by the National Assembly of Vietnam and the two sides will complete the notification procedure in accordance with the provisions of the Agreement and will officially take effect for both EU and Vietnam, reported by Vietnam News.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade said that, serving the verification meeting of the Committee on Social Affairs of the National Assembly on April 16, the Ministry of Industry and Trade sent the content of the report on "Some key contents to propose to the Congress for approval of EVFTA Agreement ”.

This report was presented by Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade - Head of Government Delegation for Economic and Trade Negotiation - Tran Quoc Khanh.

Vietnam National Assembly (Photo: Dang cong san)

Previously, on January 6, the Ministry of Industry and Trade submitted to the Government the dossier of ratification of the EVFTA Agreement after consulting the concerned ministries and branches. On February 21, the Ministry of Industry and Trade submitted documents to the Government with updated information on the results of the legal review, the EU's approval status and the UK's departure from the EU. On February 24, the Ministry of Industry and Trade submitted to the Prime Minister a draft of the Government's Proposal to submit to the President for ratification of EVFTA after synthesizing and receiving the opinions of the Government Members, according to Bao tin tuc.

On April 6, the Government submitted this document to the President for his consideration and submission to the National Assembly. On April 8, the Ministry of Industry and Trade sent the President's Office some additional information and documents for the dossier to submit for approval.

In order to serve the National Assembly's External Relations Committee to verify the ratification of the EVFTA Agreement, on April 9, the Ministry of Industry and Trade sent the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs Committee a dossier of submission for approval with all the required contents of the 2016 International Treaty Law as well as providing introductory and explanatory information on the EVFTA Agreement.

The ministry has drafted the main contents of the plan to prepare for the implementation of EVFTA, defining the objectives, key tasks and the co-ordinating units to implement the plan.

The key tasks include disseminating information about EVFTA and EU markets; building laws and institutions; improving traditions and developing human resources; policies for trade union organization and laborators at enterprises; social security policies, environmental protection and sustainable development, reported by Vietnam News.

Ministry of Industry and Trade (Photo: CafeF)

Regarding the preparation of enforcement by the EU, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has actively coordinated with the EU in the process of developing and perfecting the mechanism for granting tariff-rate quotas to Vietnamese rice with a quota rate of 0% when exporting to the EU.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade added that the Ministry has developed a plan to submit to the Government to prepare for the implementation of the EVFTA Agreement with specific goals and plans.

In addition, in order to spread EVFTA to the masses of people, especially enterprises and state management officials at central and local levels, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has established a specialized website EVFTA Agreement at evfta.moit.gov.vn, to provide information, explain commitments and connect with people and businesses about EVFTA.

In addition, the Ministry has also promoted communication activities on the Agreement through the organization of intensive workshops spanning most of provinces and cities, where have been authorized to issue C/O, and where large industrial parks are clustered, with businesses operating in the field of manufacturing, import and export.

While the current COVID-19 epidemic has not shown signs of abating, the Ministry of Industry and Trade is developing online training courses for branches and local enterprises, in order to raise awareness and knowledge of specific commitments in each area of the Agreement, reported by The Labor.

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