Nearly 5,000 tariff lines to go down to zero under Viet Nam-EAEU FTA

Import tax on 4,959 types of goods from the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) countries will be reduced to zero immediately when the free trade agreement (FTA) between Viet Nam and the union takes effect this year.

The tax removal is part of the roadmap for tax reduction for 2016-2018 under the FTA.

In 2018, 144 more tariff lines will be eliminated, increasing the number of zero-tax lines to 5,103, or 54 percent of the total.

The EAEU, which comprises Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, signed the FTA with Viet Nam in May 2015. This was the first FTA signed between the EAEU and an external partner.

The agreement will abolish 90 per cent of tax lines, equivalent to 90 per cent of bilateral trade turnover.

The deal is expected to increase trade revenue between Vietnam and the EAEU to US$10 billion in 2020 from the current yearly average of $4 billion.

Source: VIR