Three more members have been added to a Domestic Advisory Group (DAG) established under the EU-Viet Nam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), pushing the total number of official members to six.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade has recently issued Decision 3019/QD-BCT to amend and supplement a number of articles of its Decision 1972/QD-BCT on the establishment of the group.

The three new members are the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), the Vietnam Fisheries Society (VINAFIS), and the Education for Nature Vietnam (ENV). The initial members of the group are the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), the Institute for Workers and Trade Unions (IWTU) under the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour and the Centre for Sustainable Rural Development (SRD)

Set up under Article 13.15 of Chapter 13 on Trade and Sustainable Development in the EVFTA, the DAG operates as a forum and has neither legal status nor its own stamp and bank account. It will operate in a self-financing mechanism.

It has the function and task of collecting and presenting viewpoints, making recommendations, advice and feedback relating to the implementation of the chapter on trade and sustainable development in the EVFTA. Those viewpoints and recommendations will be submitted to the EVFTA’s Committee on Trade and Sustainable Development.

Members of the DAG Vietnam are associations, non-governmental organisations and non-profit organisations of Viet Nam, which operate legally in the country and represent legitimate interests related to trade and sustainable development in Viet Nam. — VNS