Ukraine, Vietnam to resume work on FTA agreement – trade rep

Ukraine and Vietnam will resume work on a free trade area agreement (FTA), Deputy Minister of Development of Economy, Trade and Agriculture, Trade Representative of Ukraine Taras Kachka has said.

"We have agreed to resume work on the FTA agreement with Vietnam. Under the best case scenario, this year we will enter a formal negotiation process," he wrote on Facebook on Monday following the first meeting of the joint intergovernmental commission with Vietnam in 2021.

He also said that Ukraine and Vietnam are completing the conclusion of interdepartmental agreements on veterinary medicine and plant quarantine.

"These contracts are at the final stage," Kachka said.

He said that by the end of 2020, the trade turnover between Ukraine and Vietnam grew by 22.5%, to $644.65 million, and Ukraine's export to this country over the past year rose by 92%, to $184.5 million.

"A large share of imports from Vietnam are electronics and mechanical equipment… The lion's share of Ukrainian exports to Vietnam are grains," the trade representative said.

Kachka also said that business surveys show the interest of business in the FTA with this country. As for Vietnam itself, it is interested in industrial and scientific cooperation: from technologies in leather processing, fertilizer production and titanium mining to cooperation in the field of space and aviation. In addition, this is about industrial cooperation and projects for the supply of railway equipment, trucks, compressor equipment, aircraft and aircraft equipment, he said.

Source: www.en.interfax.com.ua