Vietnam-Japan partnership deal promotes bilateral trade

Chief negotiator Phan The Rue of Vietnam has expressed his strong belief that the recently signed Vietnam-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (VJEPA) will boost bilateral trade and investments.

Mr Rue said the VJEPA meets the regional motto “Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity in Asia”.

The VJEPA was signed in Tokyo on December 25, 2008 after nine rounds of negotiations. Japan has agreed for the first time to work closely with Vietnam towards early recognition of the country’s full market economy and establishment of an equal trade relationship between the two countries.

In the first stage of the agreement, both countries will implement a tariff reduction towards creating a free trade area, allowing over 94.5 percent of Vietnam’s export revenues and over 87.6 percent of Japan’s export revenues to be exempt from import tariffs.

Aquatic products, farm produce, apparel, steel, chemicals and electronic appliances will benefit the most from the commitment to trade liberalisation.

Japan also agreed to extend soft loans from its official development assistance (ODA) to train up to 300 Vietnamese nurses in the country.

Mr Rue emphasised other opportunities such as more access to financial sources, technology, goods and production materials brought in by the agreement to entrepreneurs and consumers from the two countries. He added that the VJEPA will make a positive impact on restructuring the two economies in relation to other regional and global economies.
Japanese Ambassador Mitsuo Sakaba reaffirmed that Vietnam is an important trade partner of Japan and he strongly believed that the deployment of the VJEPA would pave the way for the two countries to further strengthen relations in trade and investment in the future. (VOV)