Vietnam, Israel hold fifth round of negotiations on FTA
Vietnam and Israel reached progress during the fifth round of negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA) between the two nations which was recently held in Jerusalem city.
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Trade in goods, rules of origin, customs, technical barriers to trade, trade in services, trade safeguard, investment, government’s purchase, and other legal and institutional issues were tabled at the fifth round.
In the spirit of openness and frankness, the two sides made headway in major negotiation fields such as good and service trade, and agreed make greater efforts to complete the negotiations soon in line with directions of the two countries’ leaders.
Vietnam and Israel have enjoyed increasing two-way trade in the past years. Last year, bilateral trade reached US$1.06 billion, of which Vietnam exported US$713 million worth of products to Israel and imported US$347 million worth of goods from the Middle East country.
The signing of a FTA is expected to further foster trade and investment between the two countries as well as bring substantial benefits to enterprises, labourers and citizens of both nations.
Vietnam and Israel officially launched FTA negotiations on December 2, 2015. The next round of talks will be held at the end of this year in Vietnam as agreed by the two sides.
