Viet Nam and Israel made progress during the fifth round of negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries in Jerusalem City.

Goods trade, rules of origin, customs, technical barriers to trade, service trade, trade safeguards, investment, government’s purchase and other legal and institutional issues were tabled at the fifth round.

In the spirit of transparency, the two sides made headway in major negotiation fields, such as goods and service trade, and agreed to make greater efforts to complete the negotiations soon in line with directions of the leaders of the two countries.

Viet Nam and Israel have enjoyed increasing bilateral trade in the past few years. In 2017, the bilateral trade reached US$1.06 billion, of which Viet Nam exported $713 million worth of products to Israel and imported $347 million worth of goods from the Middle Eastern country.

The FTA is expected to further boost trade and investment between the two countries as well as bring substantial benefits to enterprises, labourers and citizens of both the nations.

Viet Nam and Israel officially launched FTA negotiations on December 2, 2015. The next round of talks will be held in Viet Nam at the end of this year as agreed by the two sides. – VNS