Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement ushers in new era of Việt Nam-UAE relations
The freshly-signed Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between Việt Nam and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) opens up a new era of the bilateral relationship that has been upgraded to a comprehensive partnership and growing substantively.
The freshly-signed Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between Việt Nam and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) opens up a new era of the bilateral relationship that has been upgraded to a comprehensive partnership and growing substantively.
The deal, the first free trade agreement Việt Nam has established with an Arab country, was signed by Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyễn Hồng Diên and UAE Minister of State for Foreign Trade Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai on October 28 (local time). Visiting Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính and UAE Vice President and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum witnessed the signing of the agreement.
It is also expected to usher in a new period of the relations between Việt Nam and Arab countries.
The signing came in the context of the thriving trade between Việt Nam and the UAE, following a year of negotiations. It vividly demonstrates a joint commitment to advancing the bilateral trade-investment ties to a new height.
With 18 chapters, 15 appendices and 2 bilateral letters, the CEPA covers areas such as trade in goods, services-investment, rules of origin, technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, customs, trade remedies, government procurement, intellectual property, and legal and institutional affairs.
Under the agreement, both sides made strong commitments to trade liberalisation, with the UAE pledging to phase out tariffs on 99 per cent of Việt Nam’s exports, and Việt Nam to remove tariffs on 98.5 per cent of the UAE’s exports.
The agreement also includes various provisions facilitating trade and investment, aligning with digital transformation and green development trends.
Currently, the UAE is one of Việt Nam's most important trade and investment partners in the Middle East, serving as a key gateway for the Southeast Asian nation to access markets in this region as well as in Western Asia and Africa. Additionally, their economic and trade structures are reciprocal.
Statistics show that the UAE is Việt Nam's largest export market and its second-largest trade partner in Western Asia, after Kuwait.
According to the General Department of Việt Nam Customs, during the 2018-23 span, the average annual trade turnover between the two countries reached approximately US$5 billion, with Việt Nam running a trade surplus from $3 billion to $4 billion per year.
The two-way trade was valued at nearly $4.7 billion in 2023, up 5.9 per cent year-on-year, and $4.47 billion in the first eight months of this year, a 45 per cent increase compared to the same period last year.
Việt Nam’s main exports to the UAE included mobile phones, computers and components, electrical products, home electronics, pepper, aquatic products, footwear, garments-textiles, plastics, and furniture. Key items from the UAE to Việt Nam consisted of raw plastics, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), petroleum-based products, animal feed ingredients, common metals, and chemicals.
Việt Nam and the UAE on October 28 issued a Joint Statement on the upgrade of their relations to a Comprehensive Partnership on the occasion of Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính’s official visit to the Middle East country. — VNS
