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Trade deal to highlight opportunities downunder
Many Vietnamese exports to Australia and New Zealand will enjoy tariff-free status from next year.
Tony Burchill, Australia’ Senior Trade Commissioner to Vietnam, said the ASEAN-Australia and New Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA) agreement would facilitate trade in goods and services and boost investment and soon benefit Vietnamese exporters.
He said Australia would immediately eliminate tariffs on many industrial and agricultural products imported from Vietnam from 2010 such as footwear, vegetables, fish products, meat, livestock, fruits and nuts, pharmaceuticals, wine and spirits , pulp and paper.
Australia would also bind all tariffs on clothing and textiles, one of Vietnam’s most important exports, by 2020. Specifically, 563 tariffs on textiles and textile articles will be eliminated in 2010 and 42 tariffs will phase to zero per cent from 2015 to 2020.
“I guess that agricultural and wooden products, seafood and textile and apparel exports from Vietnam to Australia and New Zealand will increase remarkably as these are the country’s most competitive goods,” said Burchill, adding that the import tariff cuts would also benefit Vietnamese consumers.
“From 2010, Vietnam will reduce by 5 per cent, per year its import taxes on dairy products and this is good news for Vietnamese consumers,” he said. Meanwhile, under the agreements, most import taxes on automotive parts in Vietnam will be eliminated or reduced to 5 per cent by 2018, which will help manufacturers reduce production costs.
Besides hefty tariff cuts, Vietnam also made some strong commitments to opening its market in services, particular in education and training services, which will not only bring benefits to other countries but also to Vietnam.
Bui Huy Son, Former Deputy Director of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Multilateral Trade Policy Department, said that Vietnam committed to reducing the experience required for foreign teachers from five to three years and to expanding the fields of teaching available to foreign educators.
“We have a shortage of high-quality education and training services,” said Son, adding that these commitments would make it easier to attract foreign teachers and improve Vietnam’s education system.
In conjunction with the AANZFTA negotiations, New Zealand made arrangements for temporary employment entry of 100 chefs and 100 engineering professionals from Vietnam. New Zealand also agreed to enter negotiations on a bilateral working holiday scheme with Vietnam. This scheme would bring up to 100 entrants from Vietnam to New Zealand per year while Australia is considering a similar scheme.
“Vietnam’s commitments to further open up its education and training services, combined with the temporary employment entry program and working holiday schemes, will offer Vietnamese labourers the opportunity to improve their professional skills and knowledge as well as increase their income,” said Son.
Aidan Storer, Australian Trade Commission’s senior business development manager in Hanoi, said Vietnam had carried out its World Trade Organization commitments in education, which would provide opportunities for Vietnam to attract foreign investment in this field.
He said that education and training had been Australia’s largest services export to Vietnam in recent years and he hoped that Australia’s universities and colleges would engage further with Vietnam in the future.
Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Cam Tu said AANZFTA would offer Vietnam many opportunities, but “the initiative of Vietnamese enterprises is the most important factor and will determine the effectiveness of the AANZFTA agreement.”
vietnamnet, vir
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