HCM City (VNA)ℱ – Free trade agreements (FTAs) help attract the investment of enterprises from the Republic of Korea (RoK) to Vietnam’s garment market, said Vice President of the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) Roh Inho.

Speaking at a ceremony to launch the Korea-Vietnam FTA Support Centre in HCM City on March 4, Roh Inho said there is great potential for Vietnam to boost exports to the RoK, especially its key goods such as textiles, agricultural and aquatic products. He noted that his country has committed to opening its market to Vietnam’s tropical fruits and removing tariffs on apparel. Vice Chairwoman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Thi Thu appreciated the RoK’s promotion agencies speeding up trade and investment links between the two countries’ firms, stressing that HCM City always willingly welcomes foreign investors. On the occasion at KOTRA’s office in HCM City, KOTRA and the HCM City High-Tech Zone, signed an agreement aiming to enhance information exchange to foster export-import activities. The FTA between Vietnam and the Republic of Korea (VKFTA) came into effect on December 20 last year. It covers matters from the reduction or elimination of customs duties, rules of origin, customs administration and trade facilitation; to sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, competition, intellectual property and transparency. The centre aims to provide enterprises with not only accurate information on the VKFTA but also support enterprises who face difficulties, particularly in terms of non-tariff trade barriers and granting of certificate’s of origin. According to economic experts, the enforcement of FTAs will help Vietnamese exporters to expand their business, as well as promote economic cooperation between Vietnamese and RoK firms. Bilateral trade between Vietnam and the RoK has increased significantly over the past few decades, from 500 million USD in 1992 to 28.8 billion USD in 2014. The RoK is now the largest among 62 foreign investors in Vietnam with about 3,000 enterprises in operation, creating jobs for more than 400,000 locals. According to Statistics from KOTRA in Hanoi, quoted by the Korean news agency Yonhap, the RoK’s total investment in Vietnam had reached 44.9 billion USD by the end of 2015.-VNA