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Turkey proposes FTA negotiations with VN

VGP – Turkey proposed launching negotiations for a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) during the seventh meeting of the Viet Nam-Turkey Joint Committee in Ha Noi on July 13.

July 14, 2017 2:46 PM GMT+7

The seventh meeting of the Viet Nam-Turkey Joint Committee, Ha Noi, July 13, 2017 - Photo: VGP/Phan Trang

The meeting was chaired by Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh and Turkish Minister of Labor and Social Security Mehmet Muezzinoglu. 

The Vietnamese side asked Turkey to recognize Viet Nam as a market economy and minimize trade defense measures against Viet Nam’s exports. 

The two delegation heads exchanged information on economic development and approved specific measures to beef up comprehensive ties among the two countries.

Regarding trade, the two-way trade turnover touched around US$ 1.5 billion per year, failing to catch up with respective potentials. The two countries were unanimous in striving for a two-way trade turnover of over US$ 4 billion by 2020.

As regards investment, the two sides reached consensus on the contents of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation in the management of economics, industrial and processing zones. 

They also agreed on the contents of the MoU on customs cooperation between the Finance Ministry and the Turkish Ministry of Customs and Trade.

Both sides agreed cooperation between the Directorate for Standards, Metrology and Quality and the Turkish Standards Institution. 

The two countries are actively refining contents towards signing agreements on statistics, science and technology, labor, education and training, culture, tourism, health care, natural resources and the environment. 

Collaboration in energy, food processing, construction, machinery and equipment will also be strengthened. 

At a ceremony to sign the minutes of the meeting in the afternoon, Minister Anh said Viet Nam and Turkey already signed agreements on aviation transport, navigation and double taxation avoidance. 

Turkey launched direct flight services connecting Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City. 

In the first five months this year, two-way trade between the two nations reached US$ 724.6 million, US$ 634.9 million of which was Viet Nam’s exports, mostly cell phones, fibers, computers, electronics and spare parts, rubber, machinery and equipment, iron and steel, apparel, peppercorns, cashew nuts, wood and wooden furniture, fisheries, footwear and handicraft items./.

By Kim Loan