越南與歐盟自貿協議預計刺激經濟大幅增長

A trade deal with the European Union expected to be ratified this year will accelerate growth of Vietnam's export-reliant economy without help from the U.S. market, analysts say.

The European Union-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement signed in 2015 should speed annual economic growth by half a percent to more than seven percent by 2019, according to data from the business consultancy Dezan Shira & Associates.

Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade said Tuesday the two sides had finished a legal review of the deal, the Vietnamese Communist Party news website Nhan Dan Online reported. The deal must pass the European Parliament as well as Vietnamese lawmakers.

Vietnam counts the European Union, with a market of about 500 million people, as its No. 3 trading partner after China and the United States. Their trade totaled about $50.4 billion last year.

Vietnam relies on exports of garments, auto parts and consumer electronics to stoke a GDP that already outgrows most of the world. It had hoped the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal would open tariff-free access to the United States until U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from it last year.

The EU-Vietnam deal will eliminate import tariffs on 99 percent of all goods within a decade and open Vietnam to European services such as healthcare, packaging and conference hosting.分析人士說，越南預計今年批准的一項與歐盟的貿易協議將加速越南出口型經濟的發展而不需要美國市場的幫助。

根據協力管理諮詢有限公司（Dezan Shira & Associates）的數據，歐盟和越南2015年簽訂的自由貿易協定將在2019年之前帶來0.5%的經濟增長，超過7%。

越南共產黨中央委員會機關報“人民報”的網站報道，越南產業貿易部星期二說，雙方已經完成了對協議的法律審議。這項協定必須經過歐洲議會和越南議會的批准方能生效。

有5億人口的歐盟是越南第三大貿易伙伴，去年的貿易額爲504億美元，排在中國和美國之後。

越南依賴服裝、汽車零配件和電子消費品的出口來促進經濟增長，其經濟增長速度已超過世界很多國家。越南曾希望跨太平洋貿易伙伴協議將能讓它以零關稅進入美國市場，但是川普總統去年退出了這項貿易協定。

根據歐盟和越南的自貿協議，雙方在10年期間完全取消99%貿易產品的關稅，越南向歐盟開放醫療、包裝和會議主辦等領域的市場。