Accordingly, after 3 years of implementing EVFTA, the Agreement has promoted its role in promoting institutional reform in accordance with new development requirements and contexts. Areas such as trade, investment, intellectual property rights, sustainable development, financial services, and public procurement all have many adjustments in institutions, legal documents, and the legal system. Vietnam is largely compatible with commitments in the EVFTA.

Vietnam's exported goods have met the EU's needs

The workshop "Evaluating the results of three years of implementation of the EVFTA Agreement for Vietnam's economy" focused on four specific objectives: (i) Overview of the implementation of the EVFTA Agreement in the period 2020-2023 in the following areas: broader contextual considerations (geopolitical, international and regional economics); (ii) Qualitative analysis of impacts on Vietnam's economy and trade and investment flows between EU - Vietnam after three years of implementation of the EVFTA Agreement; (iii) Assess the impact of the EVFTA Agreement on Vietnam after three years of implementation from an institutional perspective in a number of areas; (iv) Propose policy recommendations to effectively implement the EVFTA Agreement in the coming time.

Mr. Nguyen Anh Duong, Head of General Research Department, CIEM said that EVFTA has contributed to creating conditions for exports to the EU to recover strongly, especially in the first two years. The impact on exports to the EU in the third year is somewhat less positive, possibly because the world economy in general and the EU economy in particular faces difficulties due to many factors (geopolitical conflicts; Russia-Ukraine conflict; rising commodity prices on the world market and inflationary pressures; operating interest rates and regulations on imports tend to increase in the EU market,...). The impact of EVFTA on import growth from the EU is somewhat less clear than on export growth to the EU.

In addition, EVFTA also helps Vietnam increase the import of modern machinery, equipment and technology, contributing to the country's industrialization and modernization process, helping to increase product standards. and increase the ability to join the global value chain, increasing the competitiveness of Vietnamese products in the world market. Vietnam's export goods have generally improved their ability to meet the import needs of the EU market right after EVFTA came into effect.

However, the export structure to the EU in the period 2017-2021 is still shifting towards reducing products with high technology content. Export activities to this market are still lower than expectations, showing that the potential to increase exports to the EU market is still very large.

Continue to maximize benefits from the EVFTA

For foreign investment, the impact on investment capital flows from the EU into Vietnam also shows clear improvements in Vietnam's overall FDI attraction results. With many tariff incentives and removal of market access restrictions in many fields, EVFTA has opened the door for EU investors to access and expand investment in Vietnam.

Although significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic that broke out in 2020, investment from the EU into Vietnam has more or less increased after the pandemic. The Netherlands, France, Luxembough, Germany, Denmark, and Belgium are respectively the top six EU investors in Vietnam. However, if you compare the accumulated registered capital at the end of July 2023 with the accumulated registered capital at July 2020, it can be seen that the impact of EVFTA on attracting FDI capital from the EU is still relatively modest.

From an institutional perspective, EVFTA has promoted its role in promoting institutional reform in accordance with new development requirements and contexts. CIEM's analysis results show that fields such as trade, investment, intellectual property rights, sustainable development, financial services, and public procurement have many adjustments in institutions and regulatory documents. violate the law, Vietnam's legal system is largely compatible with commitments in the EVFTA. The progress of preparing a number of legal documents to implement the EVFTA is somewhat faster than the CPTPP, possibly due to lessons learned from the process of organizing the implementation of the CPTPP.

To maximize benefits from the EVFTA Agreement in the context of Vietnam's economic institutional reform and international integration, the Report has made specific recommendations, including: Review and improve regulations. regulations and legal documents; Strengthen synchronous coordination from central to local levels; Strengthen propaganda and dissemination of FTAs to business sectors, especially small and medium-sized enterprises; make efforts to improve the investment and business environment, enhance the competitiveness of businesses and the whole economy; Strengthen and innovate trade promotion activities and export market orientation to take advantage of opportunities from EVFTA; Review and simplify regulations and procedures for issuing C/O certificates for businesses exporting to partner markets; proactively research content related to structural reform to support EVFTA implementation.

At the Workshop, experts and delegates also discussed more about the shortcomings, limitations and lessons learned in implementing EVFTA in the period 2020-2023; Recommendations and solutions to promote a favorable business environment, protect intellectual property rights, promote sustainable development initiatives, streamline financial services and appropriate public procurement processes with EVFTA in the near future./.

Minh Toan