Mr. Mauro Petriccione, Deputy Director General at the European Commission’s Directorate General for Trade and the European Union (EU)’s chief negotiator of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement is visiting Vietnam this week.

The visit aims to raise awareness about the benefits and opportunities of the recently-concluded FTA.

A seminar on the opportunities for businesses will be held in Hanoi on May 31 and on June 1 in Ho Chi Minh City by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) and the Delegation of the European Union to Vietnam, with support from the European Trade Policy and Investment Support Project (MUTRAP).

The seminars are expected to hear from both chief negotiators - Mr. Petriccione from the EU side and Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Quoc Khanh from the Vietnamese side - about how to make the best of the opportunities the FTA will provide.

Mr. Petriccione and Deputy Minister Khanh will also launch a guide on the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement prepared by the Delegation. A Vietnamese version has also been prepared by MoIT and will be published shortly.

The legal teams of both sides will also hold an initial meeting in Hanoi to review the negotiated text of the agreement to verify its consistency and ensure that all provisions have been formulated in a legally-sound manner.

Mr. Petriccione’s visit underlines the importance of bilateral relations between Vietnam and the EU. The EU remains Vietnam's second-largest trading partner, with bilateral trade of more than $42.7 billion in total. Economic ties continue to grow strongly and are expected to be bolstered significantly as a result of the FTA.

Vietnam is the second country in the ASEAN region, after Singapore, to reach an ambitious and comprehensive FTA with the EU.