THE EU - VIETNAM FREE TRADE AGREEMENT (EVFTA) OPPORTUNITY AND CHALLENGES FOR VIETNAM

The EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement is a new generation of trade agreements between Vietnam and 28 EU Member States called EVFTA. The EVFTA was negotiated in mid-2012. After 14 formal meetings, the EVFTA negotiation process was finalized on December 2, 2015. On 17/10/2018, the European Commission has submitted a free trade agreement between Vietnam and Europe and the Investment Protection Treaty to the Council of Europe to consider and sign the delegation, to be expected at the end. 2018 will officially sign this Agreement. It will also be submitted to the European Parliament for approval in early 2019. When the agreement is officially put into effect, it will have a significant impact on Vietnam's economy and social life. This paper focuses on analyzing and evaluating opportunities and challenges for Vietnam in a number of areas related to trade agreements such as trade in goods; Vietnam's exports to the EU; Customs and trade facilitation; Sanitary and phytosanitary measures; Technical barriers to trade; Trade defense; Invest; Intellectual Property; Sustainable Development