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On the morning of August 6, 2024, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Phan Thi Thang attended and delivered a speech at the Opening Ceremony of the 8th Negotiation Session to Upgrade the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA) in Ha Long, Quang Ninh, Vietnam. The negotiation session is expected to last for 5 days with the participation of more than 180 delegates from 10 ASEAN member countries, China and the ASEAN Secretariat.
In her opening remarks at the conference, Deputy Minister Phan Thi Thang emphasized the importance of the ACFTA Agreement for the development of trade and investment relations between ASEAN and China, and highlighted the necessity of upgrading the ACFTA Agreement under the direction of the Leaders of ASEAN countries and China, contributing to improving commitments and bringing practical benefits to businesses and people of ASEAN member countries and China.
Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Phan Thi Thang delivered the opening speech at the conference
Since the ACFTA came into effect in 2005, trade between ASEAN and China has increased sevenfold, reaching US$722 billion and US$702 billion in 2022 and 2023, respectively. China has maintained its position as ASEAN's largest trading partner since 2009. In 2020, ASEAN surpassed the EU to become China's largest trading partner and maintained this position in the following years. In addition, China is also the fourth largest foreign investor in the ASEAN region, with total FDI capital reaching US$15.3 billion in 2022, equivalent to 6.9% of total FDI inflows into ASEAN.
In addition, the Deputy Minister acknowledged and commended the efforts of the negotiating delegations of ASEAN countries and China in concluding negotiations on 04 chapters and completing about 70% of the work progress after 07 negotiation sessions, since November 2022. At the same time, the Deputy Minister also emphasized the special significance of the 8th Negotiation Session in Ha Long, which is both a sideline session before entering the final session in September 2024 in Bangkok, Thailand, and a session taking place on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of ASEAN's founding (August 8, 1967). With that in mind, the Deputy Minister suggested that the negotiating delegations continue to actively discuss and resolve outstanding issues towards the goal of significantly concluding negotiations by September 2024, completing one of Laos' priority economic initiatives during its ASEAN Chairmanship year 2024.
At the end of the Opening Ceremony, the Co-Chairs of the Negotiation Committee, the Heads of the ASEAN and Chinese Negotiation Delegations all expressed their sincere thanks to the Deputy Minister, highly appreciated the organization of the Vietnamese side and would accept the Deputy Minister's instructions to achieve the best results at the 8th Negotiation Session held in Vietnam, contributing to the goal of basically concluding negotiations to upgrade the ACFTA Agreement as set out.
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ASEAN and China signed the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation in November 2002. On the basis of the Framework Agreement, the two sides continued to negotiate and sign the Agreements on Trade in Goods (effective from July 2005), the Agreement on Trade in Services (effective from July 2007), and the Agreement on Investment (effective from February 2010) to establish the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area, referred to as the ACFTA Agreement. In November 2022, at the 25th ASEAN-China Summit, the Leaders of ASEAN and China announced the launch of negotiations to upgrade the ACFTA Agreement, contributing to further deepening and expanding ASEAN-China economic relations. In addition to traditional areas such as trade in goods and investment, the upgraded ACFTA Agreement is expected to include new areas such as supply chain connectivity, green economy, and digital economy. The ACFTA is one of the free trade agreements with a good utilization rate in Vietnam, contributing to increasing the proportion of goods exports and imports between Vietnam and China since the ASEAN-China Trade in Goods Agreement was signed in 2005. According to the General Department of Customs, in 2023, China will be Vietnam's largest trading partner, with two-way turnover reaching 171.9 billion USD. Participating in the Vietnam delegation to negotiate the upgrading of the ACFTA are representatives of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (as Head of the negotiation delegation) and related ministries and branches such as the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the State Bank. |
