Strength to strength in EU relations

I would like to congratulate the Vietnamese government for the excellent performance of the economy in 2022. It is true that in the context of the challenging global economic turbulences, the macroeconomic data for Vietnam looks very promising. Such performance of the Vietnamese economy in 2022 demonstrates good governance and the timely implementation of the macro policies has been appropriate during the post-pandemic period.

The GDP of Vietnam in 2022 grew 8.02 per cent - the highest GDP growth over the past 10 years - according to the latest data from Vietnam’s General Statistics Office. The inflation was curbed at 3.15 per cent, well below the National Assembly target. The results are quite remarkable that in such a complicated global context, where supply chains are disrupted, the world fuel prices are soaring, and food supplies are in shortage, Vietnam still managed to achieve double-digit growth in exports and a total global trading volume of $732.5 billion last year. The state budget even was in surplus, which is estimated at VND222.5 trillion ($9.67 billion) or 2.3 per cent, and the budget collection increased by almost 20 per cent against planned. I am impressed by this excellent performance.

I firmly believe that the EVFTA has contributed significantly to this success, and the figures speak for themselves. The latest available data sourced from Eurostat indicates a robust growth of the bilateral import-export relations in January-September 2022. The exports of commodities by the EU to Vietnam soared by 18.5 per cent on-year to €9.2 billion ($10 billion) while Vietnam’s exports went up significantly by more than 32 per cent on-year to almost €38 billion ($41.2 billion).

Vietnam has also maintained its leading position as the biggest exporter of commodities among ASEAN countries to the EU market. More impressively, Vietnam has been in the list of 30 biggest exporting economies in the world. Such trend of export growth to the EU will continue, and the country’s target of exporting commodities worth $1 trillion to the world market by 2025 is within the reach of Vietnam when the European consumers continue focusing their attention towards products made here.

A boost in investment

The prospects of bilateral trade between Vietnam and the EU two years after implementation of the EVFTA remain bright despite global uncertainty and complicated political economic situation – and quantified assessments by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) about the implementation of the EVFTA prove this point.

Two-way trade after two years of the EVFTA grew to $83.4 billion (averaged at $41.7 billion per year). This represents 24 per cent higher than the average annual bilateral trade value during 2016-2019. The utilisation rate of the agreement by Vietnamese exporters continues to increase as well. Initially, it was 14.8 per cent in 2020, increased to 20.2 per cent in 2021, and to 24.5 per cent in the first six months of 2022, according to a survey of 500 Vietnamese companies by the VCCI.

Many independent analysts hold the view that current global challenges could have wielded far worse impacts on the economy if the important FTAs had not been in place. The EVFTA has acted as a cushion to support the economy of Vietnam in the times of global turbulences.

The picture of investment from the EU into Vietnam appears less upbeat, however, much of it owing to the global complicated political economic context. In 2020, foreign direct investment (FDI) from Europe to Vietnam was $1.38 billion, a decline of 8.6 per cent against 2019. In 2021, FDI increased to 1.41 billion, a slight 2.2 per cent annual increase. The investment bounced back strongly in 2022 where FDI flow from Europe increased significantly to $2.46 billion, a rise of nearly 75 per cent from the year 2021.

Overall, the EVFTA has helped Vietnam to attract more investments from Europe. Nonetheless, the flows of investments from Europe to Vietnam remains quite modest as compared with the potential. Although the EU has been persistently the fifth-biggest investor of Vietnam, such figure was only 0.35 per cent of the EU outward investment in 2021.

Fully aware of this challenge, we have been working closely with the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (EuroCham) and the governmental agencies of Vietnam to promote stronger investment links between the two economies.

The best example of this proactive approach were the successful visits to Vietnam in 2022 of high political representatives of the European Union. In July, Commissioner of Agriculture and Rural Development Janusz Wojciechowski led a market access mission with participation of more than 50 agricultural companies from Europe that explored possibilities of business partnerships with local partners.

And in November, Commissioner for Environment, Oceans, and Fisheries Virginijus Sinkevičius visited Vietnam and met with leaders of the country. He also attended the Green Economy Forum and Exhibition, an international event organised by EuroCham to promote business green initiatives and facilitate partnerships between local and international companies.

Removing barriers

The implementation of the EVFTA, albeit quite successful, certainly has some challenges. Agriculture and pharma are the sectors where we have identified most problems. At present, the EU still has around 60 pending applications for plant and animal products exports to Vietnam, some of them have been waiting for approval since 2014.

Another example is the extension of the validity of the market authorisations for expired pharmaceutical products. Vietnamese people are particularly interested in the good-quality pharmaceutical products from Europe. Nonetheless, the complicated legal procedures and existing practices made it almost impossible for timely imports and distribution of such products.

These unfriendly business procedures fortunately have been gradually removed following the recent revision of laws initiated by the Vietnamese government and National Assembly. Another concern I would like to highlight is the trade facilitation effort, which Vietnam has done quite well in terms of law making but not yet efficiently applied them in practice.

The customs clearance for imported goods has been improved over the past years, but some delays are unavoidable due to the technical requirements and checks at the hand of several agencies. By all means, this will prevent Vietnam and EU-based companies from optimal utilisation of the trade and investment opportunities offered by the EVFTA. The good news is that the Vietnamese government is well aware of such shortcomings and remains open for cooperation with the EU to address these hurdles.

Vietnamese businesses had the opportunity to improve their knowledge on Rules of Origin (ROO) and receive useful information from experts to take full advantage of the recent European Union–Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) at a workshop organised by the ARISE+ Vietnam Project.

Thanks to the EVFTA, Vietnamese enterprises have opportunities to increase exports to the EU market and promote imported goods and raw materials from the EU with lower prices.

Entered into force in the context of the bilateral development of relations, the EU–Vietnam Free Trade Agreement has brought both positive impacts in many fields. Peter Bernhardt, Dr. Eduardo Austin and Prof. Dr. Konstantinos Athanasiadis of the ARISE+ Vietnam Project explain how Vietnam can face up to the challenges that the country’s private and public sector need to address in the years to come.

Vietnam and Poland continue to promote economic cooperation. Piotr Harasimowicz, chief representative officer at the Polish Investment and Trade Agency, shared with VIR’s Thanh Van about the prospects of partnership between two countries.