On October 28, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and senior UAE leaders witnessed the signing ceremony of the CEPA Agreement between Vietnam and the UAE. This is a milestone creating a breakthrough in bilateral cooperation.

Today, October 28, 2024, during his official visit to the UAE, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and senior UAE leaders witnessed the signing ceremony of the Vietnam - UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between Vietnam and the UAE. On this occasion, Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien shared directly with reporters about the historic milestone event that created a breakthrough in economic, trade and investment cooperation between the two countries, opening a big path for Vietnam to penetrate deeper into the Middle East - Africa market.

Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien said that the signing of the Vietnam - UAE CEPA Agreement is a historic milestone creating a breakthrough in economic, trade and investment cooperation between the two countries, opening a big path for Vietnam to penetrate deeper into the Middle East - Africa market.

HISTORICAL MILESTONES IN ECONOMIC AND TRADE COOPERATION BETWEEN VIETNAM AND UAE

Reporter: Minister, today Vietnam and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) signed the Vietnam - UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), an event that Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh assessed as one of two historical milestones in the relationship between the two countries during his visit.

Could the Minister briefly share the negotiation process of the Agreement as well as the main contents of the FTA Việt Nam - UAE that has just been signed?

Minister Nguyen Hong Dien: Since 2022, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam and the Ministry of Economy of the UAE have proactively studied the possibility of negotiating and signing a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA). The FTA between Vietnam and the UAE is considered feasible, expected to bring benefits to both sides and in line with the desire to enhance cooperation between the two countries in many fields.

After the feasibility study and impact assessment of the FTA between Vietnam and the UAE in 2022, on the basis of agreement with the UAE, in April 2023, during my visit and working session with the UAE with the Ministry of Industry and Trade delegation, the two sides agreed on the name of the bilateral FTA as the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and signed a Ministerial Statement on moving towards starting negotiations as well as agreeing on the Terms of Reference (TOR) of the CEPA.

On June 20, 2023, the Government officially decided to launch CEPA negotiations in the context of increasingly good bilateral relations between Vietnam and the UAE, especially in the economic and trade fields.

Since the launch of negotiations in June 2023, Vietnam and the UAE have gone through many negotiation sessions on CEPA with the following contents: Trade in goods, trade in services, investment facilitation, rules of origin, intellectual property, digital trade, trade defense, sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS), technical barriers to trade (TBT), customs and trade facilitation, government procurement, legal and institutional issues, economic cooperation and small and medium enterprises.

With these contents, the CEPA between Vietnam and the UAE is considered a comprehensive agreement and promises to ensure a balance of interests for both Vietnam and the UAE.

With determination and efforts at all levels of Vietnam and the UAE, during the official visit of Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh to the UAE, the two sides signed the Vietnam-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between Vietnam and the UAE to create a breakthrough in economic, trade and investment relations between the two countries.

Thus, from the start of negotiations to the signing of the CEPA Agreement, it took us just over 1 year, much faster than previous FTAs ​​and can be considered a record.

During his official visit to the UAE, today, October 28, 2024, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and senior UAE leaders will witness the signing ceremony of the Vietnam - UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between Vietnam and the UAE. In the photo, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, his wife and the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation arrived in the capital Abu Dhabi, starting their official visit to the UAE. Photo: Nhat Bac

The UAE is the host country of the 2024 WTO Ministerial Conference and, despite its busy schedule, has paid special attention to promoting bilateral economic and trade relations with Vietnam. We are pleased that both sides did not miss the opportunity and quickly completed negotiations for early implementation.

The CEPA Agreement consists of 18 Chapters, 15 Annexes and 2 bilateral letters. Notably, the two sides agreed to make a strong commitment to trade liberalization with the UAE committing to phase out tariffs on 99% of Vietnam's exports to the UAE, while Vietnam also committed to phase out tariffs on 98.5% of the UAE's exports to Vietnam. The Agreement also includes many provisions to facilitate trade and investment, in line with current trends in digital transformation and green development.

In short, this is a traditional FTA with all the contents that are usually found in other free trade agreements but with high standards and including many factors to prepare for future world development trends. With preferential, favorable commitments, balancing the interests of both sides, this Agreement will be an important driving force to further promote bilateral trade and investment relations between Vietnam and the UAE in the coming time.

THE BIG ROAD HAS OPEN FOR A SERIES OF INDUSTRIES AND FIELDS

Reporter: As shared by the Minister, the CEPA Agreement offers many tariff incentives for Vietnamese exports to the UAE. So, according to the Minister, which industries and sectors of Vietnam will benefit the most from this Agreement?

Minister Nguyen Hong Dien: Within the framework of the Agreement, the UAE commits to eliminating tariffs as soon as the Agreement comes into effect for many key industries and products with great export potential of Vietnam, creating a favorable basis for promoting our exports to this market and from there to Middle Eastern countries. The UAE will open its doors to almost all Vietnamese products with export advantages. The main industries include:

Firstly, agricultural products: Agricultural products such as cashew nuts, pepper and honey will have the opportunity to penetrate more strongly into the UAE and Middle Eastern markets thanks to reduced tariffs. Moreover, this is a region with great demand for high-quality agricultural products, especially clean and organic products as well as Halal certified products.

Second is consumer goods including textiles, footwear, electronics... These are products that Vietnam has strengths in, and the tariff reduction from CEPA will help these products compete better in terms of price and expand market share in the UAE, a market with high demand for fashion and quality consumer goods.

Third is seafood: With the demand for high-end seafood in the UAE, especially shrimp and fish products, the Vietnamese seafood industry will have more opportunities to increase exports and increase product value thanks to incentives from CEPA.

Fourth is wood and wood products: This is an item that will also benefit significantly from CEPA. With rapid urbanization and high-end real estate projects in the UAE, the demand for wood products, especially furniture and construction materials, is very large.

In addition, the two sides also agreed on commitments on opening the service market, making government procurement transparent... thereby facilitating mutual investment exchanges.

During his official visit to the UAE, on the morning of October 28, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh received UAE Minister of Economy Abdulla Bin Touq Al Marri. Photo: Nguyen Minh

On the same morning, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh also met and worked with UAE Minister of Investment Mohamed Hassan Al Suwaidi. Photo: Nguyen Minh

PAVE THE WAY FOR VIETNAMESE GOODS TO ENTER DEEPER INTO THE MIDDLE EAST - AFRICAN MARKET

Reporter: Minister, what significance will the CEPA Agreement have in promoting economic and trade cooperation between Vietnam and the UAE and thereby helping Vietnamese goods penetrate deeper and further into the Middle East and Africa markets?

Minister Nguyen Hong Dien: CEPA is the first FTA that Vietnam has negotiated with an Arab country in the Middle East and Africa and is the first step in promoting relations not only with the UAE but also the whole region. Therefore, I believe that the CEPA Agreement will not only create a breakthrough in economic and trade cooperation between Vietnam and the UAE, but also be a driving force to attract strong investment from the UAE to Vietnam in areas such as energy, industry, high technology, and supply chain development.

The UAE is one of Vietnam's leading important trade, investment and labor cooperation partners in the region. In the near future, CEPA can bring more investment opportunities to Vietnam from UAE businesses that want to take advantage of and benefit from this Agreement. This stems from:

Firstly, on the basis of balancing interests, Vietnam commits to opening its market to the UAE at a higher level than the WTO and a number of other FTAs ​​in a number of areas that the country is interested in, such as hotel and restaurant services; ship leasing with operators; ship maintenance and repair services; maritime agency services... These are services in which the UAE has strengths and is ready to invest in Vietnam in the coming time after the Agreement officially comes into effect.

Secondly, the Agreement has a separate chapter on Economic Cooperation. In this chapter, the two Parties agree to carry out cooperation activities in areas such as: tourism, transportation, manufacturing industries, financial services, energy development... through various forms such as organizing conferences and seminars; exchanging delegations, experts, technicians and academic experts; dialogue and exchange of experiences between the private sectors of the Parties. This will be an opportunity for our businesses and experts to learn from experience, as well as acquire new and advanced technologies from the UAE.

Thirdly, CEPA also opens up opportunities to attract investment from the UAE - a country with large investment capital - in the fields of processing and manufacturing industry, high-tech agriculture, as well as infrastructure in Vietnam.

Even before the Agreement was signed, your Minister led a delegation of the largest UAE businesses to Vietnam twice to explore investment opportunities, especially in the fields of energy, energy conversion, infrastructure and logistics. Your businesses are interested in and appreciate our Government's determination in digital transformation, green transformation, infrastructure development and research on new mechanisms for some leading localities such as Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang to develop as the UAE has done before. Therefore, the two sides decided to immediately establish a technical group to connect businesses of both sides. We hope that these efforts will soon achieve very specific results.

Regarding the development of logistics services and supply chains, the UAE is one of the largest logistics centers in the world, CEPA will help strengthen cooperation in transportation services, logistics and supply chains, helping Vietnamese goods to be transported more quickly and efficiently.

Reporter: How does the Minister assess the significance of CEPA in helping us open up the "sleeping" Middle East market with a scale of up to 2,000 billion USD?

Minister Nguyen Hong Dien: The signing of CEPA with the UAE is expected to be an important lever for Vietnam in taking advantage of trade and investment opportunities in the Middle East. This is a region with many dynamic economies, with large economic scale but has not been noticed by Vietnamese enterprises in the previous period.

With CEPA between the two sides, the competitiveness of Vietnamese goods in the UAE will certainly increase and this is an opportunity for our enterprises to catch up, even surpass other partners in this important market.

In addition, the UAE is an important trade gateway in the Middle East, with the potential to connect with many countries in the region. Therefore, through the UAE, Vietnamese products will easily access other large markets in the region such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait as well as some countries in North Africa and West Asia.

Thus, through tariff reductions, expanding cooperation and investment opportunities, CEPA will play an important role in effectively exploiting the potential of the Middle East market. This is also the first step in the Government's policy of multilateralizing and diversifying relations, not only focusing on developing traditional markets but also prioritizing the development of new relations with countries that, for many reasons, we did not have the conditions to develop in the previous period.

On October 27, in the UAE, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation attended the launch event of Vinfast's automobile brand.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh talks with Minister of State for Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Economy, Minister in charge of attracting talents of the UAE Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi on the sidelines of the Vinfast car brand launch event.

WHAT SHOULD VIETNAM DO TO REALIZE NEW POTENTIAL?

Reporter: Yes, the “big road has opened” and the export of goods to the UAE in particular and the Middle East in general has expanded significantly. However, in the process of implementing the CEPA Agreement, domestic export enterprises will face many challenges. According to the Minister, what are those challenges? And what will the Ministry of Industry and Trade do to realize the signed commitments, helping enterprises better take advantage of the opportunities from CEPA?

Minister Nguyen Hong Dien: Regarding CEPA, when implementing this Agreement, there will be some challenges that need to be noted. First of all, businesses need to make the most of the opportunities that CEPA brings. This requires businesses to proactively learn about the commitments of the Agreement as well as understand the business practices of the UAE market in particular and the Middle East in general.

In addition, for Arab countries, the requirement for Halal certification is very important, but because this is not a traditional market, we need to make more efforts to be able to compete with other countries that have been familiar with these import regulations for a long time. However, I believe that with the determination and close direction of the Government in recent times, the Ministries and branches will actively participate and cooperate with the business community to overcome these difficulties.

To realize the commitments in the Vietnam - UAE CEPA, the Ministry of Industry and Trade plans to develop a detailed CEPA Implementation Plan, focusing on three main groups of tasks:

Firstly, regarding the dissemination of information about the CEPA Agreement: The Ministry of Industry and Trade will increase the dissemination of the contents and expected impacts of the Agreement to relevant subjects in order to raise awareness and understanding of the content of the commitments as well as the work that needs to be implemented to effectively take advantage of the opportunities brought by the Agreement. In particular, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will focus on training officials of state management agencies and the business community on the specific commitments of Vietnam and the UAE in the Agreement, ensuring a clear and correct understanding of the content and how to apply the commitments, thereby helping to fully and effectively implement the Agreement.

Second, regarding the work of building laws and institutions: The Ministry of Industry and Trade will coordinate with relevant ministries and branches to develop new or amend and supplement legal documents and submit them to competent authorities for approval and promulgation in accordance with the roadmap committed in the CEPA Agreement, including the Government's Decree on promulgating the CEPA's special preferential import tariff schedule to apply to the UAE, the Circular on rules of origin in CEPA.

Third, regarding the work of improving competitiveness and developing human resources: The Ministry of Industry and Trade will coordinate with ministries and branches to focus on synchronously implementing tasks such as building support programs, improving competitiveness for industries and enterprises, especially small, medium and micro enterprises, in the process of searching for and penetrating new export markets in the region and meeting requirements in importing countries, including Halal certification. At the same time, as presented above, connecting UAE businesses to invest in the fields of industrial production, energy, logistics, etc. will be an important content in the implementation plan.

Reporter: Thank you very much, Minister!

Source: Nguyen Minh from Abu Dhabi, UAE - Cong Thuong Newspaper