Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien and European Commission Vice-President and EU trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis have co-chaired the first meeting of the EU-Viet Nam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA)'s Trade Committee.

The meeting, held online, aimed to review the implementation of the deal and discuss issues related to trade and investment in both bilateral and multilateral frameworks.

Participants adopted Decision No 01 of the committee on its operation mechanism, which comprises regulations on its function, membership, secretariat, decision-making procedure, and information transparency.

Both sides agreed to coordinate closely to speed up the implementation of the deal and cope with matters that may pose negative impacts on the operation of businesses of both sides, thus maintaining and developing the supply chain amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the meeting, the two sides also mentioned a number of multilateral issues such as the reform of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the preparation for the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference, which is scheduled to take place from November 30 to December 1 in Switzerland.

The Vietnamese side highly valued and supported the EU’s efforts over the years in ensuring that the WTO operates in line with the new reality in international trade and investment as well as interests of member countries, especially under-developed and developing ones, said Minister Dien.

The EVFTA became effective on August 1, 2020. After nearly one year of implementation, the two sides have enjoyed positive growth in bilateral trade. Their import-export value hit US$27.67 billion in the first six months of 2021, up 18.4 per cent over the same period last year. — VNS