The government's Decree on the Timber Legality Assurance System of Vietnam is an important step towards the full implementation of the annex with the same title of the EU-Vietnam Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance, and Trade (FLEGT).
A shortage of raw materials remained an obstacle that needed to be removed if Vietnamese textiles and garments enterprises want to seize export opportunities in the EU under the Việt Nam-EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), according to experts.
The second recurrence of Covid-19 caused 20% of enterprises participating in the survey to stop operating, 76% could not balance revenue and expenditure, 2% were dissolved, only 2% was temporarily affected by the pandemic, of which 47% of enterprises were forced to decrease their labor force when the pandemic started.
A number of Australian firms have chosen the nation as a destination for investment, with the impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic causing a supply chain diversification, thus leading to a number of traditional markets being replaced.
International trade remedies are used by many countries to protect their domestic industries, especially now production has stalled due to the impacts of COVID-19. With tax incentives from the new-generation free trade agreements (FTAs), including the newly-approved Europe-Việt Nam FTA (EVFTA), the risk of Việt Nam's exports being put under investigation for evasion of trade remedies is forecast to increase.
The Government’s promulgation of Decree 102/2020/ND-CP on the Vietnam Timber legality assurance system and the effectiveness of the Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) (from August 1, 2020) will boost timber exports to the EU market in the near future.
An official of the Vietnamese National Assembly has suggested continuing to review and perfect the legal framework to promote trade facilitation to ensure uninterrupted circulation of goods and supply chains in the ASEAN region.
The Vietnam - EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) has set high expectations for the growth of bilateral trade by the Government and enterprises of Vietnam as well as EU countries, thereby Vietnamese enterprises have motivation to recover after the Covid-19 pandemic.
While the ongoing pandemic has been a setback for foreign investment mobilisation over past months, experts believe it is a short-term status which will be overcome by the previous trust placed in Vietnam’s investing environment.
Talking to Customs News, Mr. Nguyen Quang Hung, Deputy Director General of the Directorate of Fisheries, said that if Vietnamese fishing vessels have not yet stopped illegal fishing in waters outside Vietnam’s territory, the removal of the “yellow card” for fishery products exported to the EU is difficult. This is a problem that requires competent agencies and localities to implement more drastic solutions.
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