EU signs textile agreement with Vietnam
BRUSSELS - The European Union
and Vietnam on Thursday signed a new textiles
agreement giving both better market access for exports of
textiles and clothing.
The 1998-2000 agreement was negotiated last year and
has been in effect since the start of this year. It was
formally signed in Brussels by European Trade
Commissioner Sir Leon Brittan and Vietnam's Trade
Minister Truong Dinh Tuyen.
``The new agreement brings important benefits to both the
EU and Vietnam, and represents a major step forward in
our trade relations,'' Brittan said in a statement.
``As a result, EU companies can look forward to
increasing opportunities within the Vietnamese
marketplace during the next three years,'' he said.
The agreement, which replaces a 1993 accord, abolishes
EU quotas on 22 categories of Vietnamese textiles and
clothes. In the 29 categories where quotas remain, they
will be increased to allow Vietnam to export almost a third
more, the European Commission said.
The 15-nation EU would benefit through cuts in
Vietnamese tariffs on a range of textiles and clothes, it
said.
The agreement also guaranteed there would be no
discrimination in the allocation of the quotas against EU
companies involved in joint ventures, it said.
Total EU imports from Vietnam were worth 2.23 billion
ecu ($2.56 billion) in 1997 while EU exports to Vietnam
totalled 1.14 billion ecu, the Commission said.
Without giving figures, it said EU imports from Vietnam
had grown by 25 percent in the first five months of 1998
and that EU import licences issued for Vietnamese
textiles and clothing were up by 22 percent in the first
eight months of 1998.
The increase in licences showed that Vietnamese industry
had already begun to capitalise on the potential of the new
agreement, the Commission said.
Vietnam's important textiles and clothing industry earned
$1.3 billion in export revenues in 1997, of which $450
million worth of products were shipped to the EU, mostly
to Germany, according to Vietnamese figures.
($1-0.87 ecu)
Reuters - September 10, 1998.
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