Under the testimony of Vietnamese Prime Minister Ranjig and South Korean President Park Geun Hye,

Wu brilliance and Yoon Sang-Jick, Minister of trade, industry and energy, signed the agreement on consultation between Vietnam and Korea on free trade agreement (VKFTA).

The VKFTA consultation officially launched negotiations in August 6, 2012. After the 8 round of formal consultation and the 8 round of the mid term meeting and the main level meeting, the two sides basically reached a consensus on the comprehensive scope, the high degree of commitment and the balance of interests.

The main contents of the agreement include trade in goods (tariff concession commitment), trade in services (including communications, finance and other appendices), investment, intellectual property rights, food hygiene and safety and animal and Plant Quarantine (SPS), rules of origin, customs convenience, trade remedy, technical barriers to trade (TBT), e-commerce, competition, system and law, economic cooperation, etc.

South Korea offers Vietnam tariff concessions to create new and important export opportunities for Vietnamese aquatic products such as shrimp, fish, vegetables and fruits, as well as textile and garment, machinery and other industrial products.

In addition, South Korea has undertaken to invest more services in Vietnam, including investment in services and investment fields, and is in favour of strengthening economic cooperation and providing comprehensive technical assistance in many areas.

For the first time, South Korea opened the market for products that are highly sensitive to garlic, ginger, honey, shrimp and so on, providing Vietnam with competitive opportunities compared with competitors in other regions.

Vietnam also provides preferential treatment for South Korea's various industrial products, including textile and garment raw ingredients, plastic, electronic parts, trucks, cars above 2500cc, auto parts, household appliances, steel products, cables and so on.

In respect of tax liberalisation, South Korea carried out 95.43% taxes.

Vietnam has committed to liberalisation of 89.75% taxes.

Other commitments related to services, investment, intellectual property rights, competition, trade remedy, dispute resolution, economic cooperation, disease health measures, technical trade measures and other commitments are based on the principle of balancing interests, meeting the requirements of national laws, and not affecting other current consultations in Vietnam.

In addition to the important export benefits, VKFTA is expected to help improve import efficiency, especially the supply of raw ingredients for major export industries such as textiles, clothing, footwear and electronic products, reducing import dependence from other countries.

Thus, it helps to restructure and pfer the economic structure and increase the proportion of products with high added value.

The agreement is more pparent.

The commitments to comply with international rules such as services, investment and policy environment are expected to help attract more Korean investment, especially in high-tech and manufacturing industries, and at the same time promote economic cooperation, strengthen exchanges among people, consolidate and deepen the Han Celve partnership.

It is expected that the two sides will complete the remaining technical consultation and the necessary procedures at home to facilitate the signing of the agreement early next year.