Minister Le Manh Hung works with EAEU minister in charge of trade

Overview of working session.

In his welcoming remarks, Andrey Slepnev affirmed that the EAEU always attaches importance to cooperation relations with Viet Nam, the first country to sign a free trade agreement (FTA) with the Union, while expressing his confidence that agreements to be reached during the State visit to the Russian Federation by Party General Secretary and President To Lam would provide strong momentum for promoting trade and investment cooperation between Viet Nam and the Russian Federation in particular, as well as with the EAEU as a whole.

For his part, Minister of Industry and Trade Le Manh Hung emphasized that economic and trade cooperation between the two sides has achieved positive results over the past period. He said that Viet Nam and the EAEU had recently completed the exchange of statistical data on preferential imports under the Agreement for the 2017-2025 period. This provides an important basis for the two sides to assess the implementation of the Agreement and identify issues that need to be further addressed.

On that basis, Minister Le Manh Hung proposed that the EAEU consider removing a number of obstacles to bilateral trade, with a focus on abolishing the safeguard threshold measure applicable to Vietnamese textile and garment products and opening the Russian market to Vietnamese seafood products.

Acknowledging Viet Nam's proposals, Andrey Slepnev said that the Union would consider the proposals, while also raising a number of proposals aimed at creating a balance in trade between the two sides.

At the end of the working session, the two ministers affirmed their determination to continue consolidating cooperation relations between Viet Nam and the EAEU, and agreed to consider organizing the 6th Meeting of the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Viet Nam-EAEU FTA at an appropriate time.