Vietnamese enterprises will enjoy many benefits from the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) between 10 ASEAN nations and six partners, namely Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea, Japanese experts said.
Speaking at a seminar on free trade agreements (FTA) organized by the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) in HCMC on Monday, Kazunobu Hayakawa of JETRO’s Bangkok Research Center said that it is complicated to make use of FTA incentives within the ASEAN region.
For example, enterprises must spend a lot of money and efforts to meet rules of origin that demand products to have ASEAN value content of 40% or more, he said.
Meanwhile, RCEP, a single FTA with standardized rules of origin, will help enterprises reduce costs in implementing these rules.
Besides, as RCEP regulates common incentives, enterprises have no need to check the incentive list for each country. Therefore, both large and small enterprises are able to make use of tax incentives, Hayakawa said.
Kohei Shiino, deputy director of JETRO Singapore, said that RCEP will bring about big advantages for Vietnam’s garment and textile industry.
Currently, to enjoy tax incentives of the ASEAN-Japan FTA, materials of Vietnam-made apparel products exported to Japan must have ASEAN and Japan origins. Meanwhile, over 33% of Vietnam’s apparel materials are imported from China.
Therefore, RCEP will bring about tax incentives for materials Vietnam import from China, Shiino said.
According to the General Department of Customs, Vietnam’s apparel and footwear material import value hit over US$4.3 billion in the first four months of this year, up 15.5% compared to 2012. The nation imported a large volume from China with total value of US$1.55 billion, a 26.4% year-on-year increase.
The first negotiation round for establishment of RCEP took place from May 9-13 in Brunei. The second round is expected to take place in Australia from September 23-27. All RCEP negotiation rounds are expected for completion in 2015.
RCEP negotiations cover some sectors such as goods (tax exemptions and reduction, rules of origins), services and investment.
Source: TheSaigonTimes – Tran Thu
Keywords: Vietnam, to benefit, greatly, from RCEP, say experts
