EU, Vietnam finalize free trade negotiations

Brussels (dpa) - The European Union and Vietnam concluded negotiations Wednesday on a free trade deal after resolving the last outstanding issues, including the question of how investor lawsuits are handled, a thorny subject in the EU.The deal will help Vietnam "integrate successfully as a market economy into the global economy," European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, EU President Donald Tusk and Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said in a joint statement.It is the second free trade agreement struck between the EU and a South-East Asian country after free trade negotiations with Singapore wrapped up last year.EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said the deal would help boost economic growth and development in Vietnam, and would give the EU access to a "vibrant economy of more than 90 million consumers with a growing middle class and a young and dynamic workforce."The Vietnamese market holds potential for the EU‘s agricultural, industrial and services industries, the commissioner added, while noting that both sides have "committed to ensure the respect of workers‘ rights" and not to deplete natural resources.A preliminary agreement was reached in August, after two and a half years of negotiations, but some key details remained outstanding, including the question of how to handle disputes between investors and governments.Malmstrom said that Hanoi has accepted the EU‘s new approach on investor dispute settlement, developed in the context of free trade negotiations with the United States, involving a permanent tribunal and an appeal mechanism.Wednesday‘s agreement now paves the way for the legal review of the negotiated text and its translation into Vietnamese and the EU‘s official languages. It must then be approved by EU member states and ratified by the European Parliament, and undergo similar procedures in Vietnam.The country is the EU‘s fourth-largest trading partner among the 10 members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), while the 28-member EU is Vietnam‘s second-largest trading partner after China.The EU ultimately hopes to have a single free trade agreement with all of ASEAN. Bilateral talks have been launched with Malaysia and will resume with Thailand "once the conditions are right," Malmstrom wrote in a blog post on Wednesday. The country is currently being run by a military junta.Free trade negotiations will also begin with the Philippines early next year, and the commission is "looking into the possibility" of negotiating with Indonesia, Malmstrom added.