Vietnamese and South Korean enterprises will benefit much from the free trade agreement (FTA) between the two nations when ratified and implemented, according to the WTO Center
South Korea will liberalise 95.4 per cent of tariff lines for goods imports from Vietnam including farm produce, seafood and fruit. The long-awaited FTA was signed in Hanoi in mid-May 2015.
Research by WTO under the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) showed when the FTA comes in force, it would be more beneficial for Vietnamese goods than the ASEAN-Korea FTA.
WTO Center director Nguyen Thi Thu Trang said, “Many products of Vietnam will be free from tariffs when they are shipped to South Korea.”
Vietnam is the first FTA partner to gain access to South Korea’s sensitive sectors like garlic, ginger, honey and sweet potato whose import tariffs are at 241-420 per cent. Therefore, the FTA will offer a great opportunity for Vietnam’s goods to compete with those from China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, the director added.
Domestic agricultural enterprises are pinning high hopes that their exports to South Korea might jump in the coming time.
Nguyen Ton Quyen, general secretary of the Vietnam Timber and Forest Products Association (Vifores), said that the tax rates charged on Vietnam’s wooden products exported to South Korea and imported machines to process wood will be cut to zero, helping enterprises lower costs.
With wood imports from Vietnam, South Korea now stands at the fifth place with turnover reaching over US$300mn last year.
