The above information was assessed by Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh at the conference "Supporting enterprises to take advantage of opportunities to develop exports of agricultural, forestry and fishery products to the EU market, effectively implementing the EVFTA Agreement".
Conference "Supporting businesses to take advantage of opportunities to develop exports of agricultural, forestry and fishery products to the EU market, effectively implement the EVFTA Agreement"
The conference was hosted by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee held in Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh.
The conference was also attended by Mr. Nguyen Xuan Cuong - Member of the Party Central Executive Committee, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development; Mr. Nguyen Thanh Phong, Member of Central Party Committee, Deputy Secretary of City Party Committee, Chairman of City People's Committee Ho Chi Minh; with representatives of ministries, departments, local branches, associations, production enterprises, agriculture, forestry and fishery.
Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh
Speaking at the opening of the Conference, Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh shared, the role and results of international economic integration are increasingly being comprehensively manifested in the fields of economic life, including agriculture and rural development.
Vietnam is the first developing country in the Asia-Pacific region and has a free trade agreement with the EU. On June 8, 2020, EVFTA Agreement was ratified by the National Assembly at the meeting with 100% of the delegates present and the Agreement will come into effect on August 1, 2020.
According to the Minister Tran Tuan Anh, EVFTA is the highest commitment agreement that a partner for Vietnam of all FTAs ​​has been signed, when 99% of import tariff lines between the two sides are removed. Abolish in 7-10 years, especially for some agricultural products that Vietnam is strong in production and export such as rice, seafood, coffee, vegetables, cocoa, palm oil, ...
The signing and implementation of the EVFTA Agreement not only provides opportunities for export growth but also helps Vietnam's agricultural sector to accelerate restructuring and enhance competitiveness through product quality, quality control and origin, packaging, etc., contributing to bringing Vietnam's agricultural, forestry and fishery goods more deeply into global supply chains.

Also according to Minister Tran Tuan Anh, besides the opportunities and potentials from the EVFTA Agreement, Vietnam's agricultural, forestry and fishery export products to the EU market in the coming time will enter the big playground. currently comply with EVFTA regulations.
Specifically, the technical barriers to imports of agricultural, forestry and fishery products from the EU are very tight, up to now the EU is still a market with very high technical barriers, especially in quarantine. animals and objects; quality control, food safety and hygiene; combating illegal, undeclared and unregulated fishing (IUU); Declaring the origin of illegal timber ...
The implementation of the EVFTA Agreement, for Vietnamese enterprises, is still a continuation in the process of complying with these requirements from the EU.
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong said that Vietnam's ratification of EVFTA at this time is very timely, creating momentum for economic recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic.
The agreement is truly a golden opportunity, creating a big push for the export of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, especially with products with strengths and competitive advantages such as seafood, vegetables, rice, cashew, coffee. , pepper, wooden products….
Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong emphasized that EVFTA is a new generation agreement with high level of commitment, great influence and promises to bring many new opportunities but also many great challenges for the economy. country. To make best use of trade and investment opportunities, Vietnam's agriculture needs to meet a series of stringent requirements for product origin, quality standards and food safety (Food Safety).
Meanwhile, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Phong - Chairman of City People's Committee. Ho Chi Minh stressed that up to now, Vietnam has signed 13 bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements (FTA) (of which 12 have entered into force); under negotiation to continue signing 03 FTAs. The signing of the EVFTA Agreement will open a vast door for Vietnam's export goods.
Chairman Nguyen Thanh Phong shared, currently export turnover of the city. Ho Chi Minh City to the EU accounted for about 10% of the total export turnover of the City.
In 2019, the city's export turnover to the EU reached US $ 5.01 billion, up 5.4%, of which the export of agricultural, forestry and fishery products alone reached US $ 712 million. Import turnover from EU reached 3.56 billion USD, up 0.6% over the same period.
In the first 6 months of 2020, export turnover is estimated at 2.26 billion USD. Import turnover reached 1.29 billion USD.

Agreeing with the solutions mentioned by the ministries and branches at the conference, Chairman Nguyen Thanh Phong added that, in order to effectively implement FTAs, including EVFTA, in the coming time, the city will continue to deploy. many solutions to support businesses, stabilize production development, business and export. Direct city agencies and agencies to intensify dissemination and intensive training on contents in EVFTA Agreement.
In order to effectively implement the EVFTA Agreement, Chairman Nguyen Thanh Phong hoped that in the future, he would continue to receive the attention and support of the ministries, central agencies, especially the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in coordination with city. Ho Chi Minh City to support businesses in agriculture, forestry and fisheries to develop export markets, especially the EU market.
At the conference also took place seminars of experts sharing in-depth analysis.
Mr. Luong Hoang Thai - Director of Multilateral Trade Policy Department, Ministry of Industry and Trade analyzed EVFTA's strategic benefits and recommendations for agriculture, forestry and fishery enterprises; Strategic benefits, effective date and implementation plan of EVFTA Agreement and the highlights of EVFTA Agreement.
According to Mr. Tran Thanh Hai - Deputy Director of Import and Export Department, Ministry of Industry and Trade, EVFTA is the Agreement with the highest level of commitment in FTAs, specifically when the Agreement comes into effect, it will eliminate tariffs immediately 85.6% the number of tariff lines, equivalent to 70.3% of Vietnam's export turnover to the EU; Tariff elimination after 07 years is 99.2% of tax lines, equivalent to 99.7% of Vietnam's export turnover to the EU.
Mr. Tran Quoc Toan - Director of Agricultural Product Processing and Market Development Department, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shared about the organization of agricultural production in order to improve the quality of exported goods to the EU market. implementation of EVFTA Agreement
Mr. Tran Quoc Toan - Director of Department of Agricultural Product Processing and Market Development, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development
In order to meet the technical standards of exporting agricultural, forestry and fishery products to the EU market, Mr. Ly Hoang Hai - General Director of Eurofins Sac Ky Hai Dang Company proposed to raise farmers' awareness of the banned substances. in agricultural production. Develop a database to support exporters to update technical standards changes.
State management agencies shall promptly issue regulations and policies in accordance with EU requirements, criticizing unreasonable regulations. At the same time, create bridges connecting relevant units in the supply chain, from farmers to producers, to importers and technical intermediaries to improve efficiency and enhance accuracy. and quick information to support businesses and farmers.
Opening ceremony of electronic certification system under EVFTA
At the conference, the opening ceremony of the electronic certification system under the EVFTA Agreement and the Dialogue and answering questions of enterprises was held by the Minister Tran Tran Anh and Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong. Reply with participants at the conference.
In the dialogue with delegates and businesses, Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh said that: To make the Agreement come into practice soon, there is a lot of work to be done and in the Government's action plan 5 big task. In particular, there is a task that needs to be drastically focused on legalizing and organizing the promulgation of specific guidelines, laws and guidelines for the agreement to come into effect immediately.
Dialogue between the two Ministers and businesses at the Conference
Therefore, the task of the Government is to promulgate and implement the action plan soon. At present, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has completed the general synthesis and asked the Ministry's final opinions to submit to the Government for approval.
At the same time, there must be guidance on implementation and the Ministry of Industry and Trade has recently issued Circular 11/2020 / TT-BCT to guide the certification of origin for products when exported to the European Union. enterprises, especially small and medium enterprises of Vietnam and EU in penetrating each other's market.

Source: Ministry of Industry and Trade