WT/RE G365/M/1  
 
21 October 2016 
(16-5741) Page: 1/3 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements  
Eighty -second Session   
 
 FREE TRADE AGREEMENT  BETWEEN VIET NAM AND  CHILE  
(GOODS)  
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 27 SEPTEMBER 2016  
Chairman: Ambassador Daniel BLOCKERT (Sweden)  
1.1.  The 82nd Session of the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements (hereinafter 'CRTA' or the 
'Committee') was conven ed in Airgram WTO/AIR/RTA/7 /Rev.1  dated 16 September  2016.  
1.2.  Under Agenda Item B.V of the session, the CRTA considered the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) 
between Viet Nam and Chile, goods, (hereinafter "the Agreement").  
1.3.  The Chairman  said that the Agreement had e ntered into force on 1 January 2014. It had 
been notified to the WTO by the Parties on 12 May 2015 under Article XXIV:7(a) of the GATT 1994 
and the Understanding on the Interpretation of Article XXIV of GATT 1994 as an Agreement 
establishing a free trade a rea (document WT/REG365/N/1). The text of the Agreement was 
available, together with its Annexes, on the Parties' official websites.  
1.4.  The Factual Presentation on the goods aspects (document WT/REG365/1 dated 21 June 
2016) had been prepared by the Secretaria t on its own responsibility in full consultation with the 
Parties, in accordance with paragraph 7(b) of the Transparency Mechanism for Regional Trade 
Agreements (document WT/L/671). In addition, written questions and replies on this Agreement 
had been dist ributed in documents WT/REG365/2 and WT/REG365/2/Corr.1 dated 22 September 
and 23 September 2016 respectively.  
1.5.  He proposed to organize the consideration of the Agreement by first asking the Parties and 
then other Members to give any general comments,  following which the Committee would turn to 
the specifics of the Agreement.  
1.6.  The representative of Chile thanked the Secretariat for preparing the factual presentation of 
the Agreement and  Mexico, Peru, the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen an d 
Matsu (Chinese Taipei) , the European Union and Thailand for the interest they ha d shown in th e 
FTA through their advance questions.  He thanked Viet Nam for its excellent cooperation during the 
entire process.  
1.7.  Chile had been  the second Latin American country after Cuba to establish diplomatic relations 
with Viet Nam in 1971.  During 45 years of diplomatic relations, Chile and Viet Nam  had made 
considerable progress both at the multilateral and bilateral levels.  Both Chile and Viet Nam were in 
favour of free trade and the reduction of tariff barriers.  
1.8.  The FTA, which was  Chile's 26th, had been  signed in 2011 and ha d been in force since 
1 January  2014. It was a clear reflection of Chile's interest in strengthening its trade ties with one 
of the most open and fa stest-growing economies in Southeast Asia, with the prospect of a market 
of 92 million inhabitants for its export sector.  
1.9.  The FTA with Chile was the first and only such agreement that Viet Nam ha d concluded with a 
Latin American country.  Viet Nam's progres s had not been limited to its rapid economic growth, 
but ha d also extended to its integration in the world economy and in the various for a where  Chile 
was also a member, such as the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation  (APEC)  Forum , the Force for WT/REG365/M/1  
 
- 2 - 
 
  East Asian L atin American Cooperation ( FEALAC ), and the negotiations under the Trans -Pacific 
Partnership (TPP) Agreement, which had been  signed last February.  
1.10.   Chile appreciate d the spirit of openness to the world that Viet Nam ha d shown over these 
past years, reflecte d in the fact that the trade to GDP ratio for 2012 -2014 was 164.2 for Viet  Nam. 
Similarly, global merchandise trade had expanded considerably in the period 2000 -2014, with a 
growth factor of around ten for Viet Nam.  
1.11.   Bilateral trade ha d been on the rise: in  the case of Chile, bilateral trade flows were about 
40 times greater in 2014 than in 2000, while for Viet Nam the figure reached 62  times . 
1.12.   The FTA was  a comprehensive trade agreement, consisting of 14 Chapters and Annexes to 
Chapters 3, 4, 6 and 10, which  formed an integral part of the Agreement. It cover ed topics such as 
rules of origin, SPS, TBT, trade defen ce, and cooperation.  
1.13.   The Agreement was fully in line with WTO regulations . For instance,  the procedural and 
transparency requirements for the investi gation of safeguards were as in the WTO Agreement on 
Safeguards, Articles 3 and 4.2(a) and (c) of which were incorporated mutatis mutandis  into the 
Agreement (Article 8.6). Also, disciplines regarding provisional measures (Article 8.7) were the 
same as tho se under the WTO, with one novelty: provisional measures could  be applied before two 
months after the initiation of the investigation (Article 8.8, paragraph 3).  
1.14.   The Agreement encourage d the Parties to avoid imposing restrictive measures for 
balance -of-payments (BOP) purposes (Article 13.4), and explicitly state d that any measure taken 
for BOP purposes sh ould be in accordance with the Party's rights and obligations under the 
GATT  1994.  
1.15.   It wa s also worth pointing out that the Parties had agreed not to introd uce or maintain any 
export subsidies for agricultural goods destined for the territory of the other Party (Article 3.9), in 
accordance with their WTO obligations. Moreover, they had agreed to work in the WTO to extend 
that prohibition to all Members of the  Organization.  
1.16.   The first meeting of the FTA's Free Trade Commission, its main administrative body, had 
taken place on 3  November  2015 in Santiago. The meeting had reviewed bilateral trade relations 
and discussed various topics relating to market access, co operation, and SPS issues.  
1.17.   Finally, Chile underscore d the added value created by the entry into force of the FTA, which 
had made it possible to promote and strengthen the presence of Chilean products in Asia, and 
hoped to provide a good platform in Chile's  region for the goods of Viet Nam.  
1.18.   The representative  of Viet Nam  thank ed the Secretariat for preparing the Factual 
Presentation of the Agreement. The Agreement , the ninth RTA to which  Viet Nam wa s a signatory 
to date, undoubtedly ha d been an important cat alyst for trade between the two countries. The 
total trade volume between Chile and Viet Nam had reached US $890 million in 2014, and 
US$940 million in 2015, a remarkable growth of 67% a nd 76%, respectively, compared with 2013 
when there was no FTA between the two countries. Viet Nam  believe d that two way trade would 
enjoy even more remarkable growth in the future.  
1.19.   In pursuing regional trade liberalization, Viet Nam however was commit ted to support ing 
the multilateral trading system and strongly believe d that the Agreement would  be a building 
block, not a stumbling block, joining common efforts in bringing down protectionist measures and 
removing barriers to global trade in line with WTO regulations.  
1.20.   He welcomed  the opportunity to present  the Agreement  to WTO  Members.  He thanked 
delegations for their written questions  and Chil e for its effective  cooperation in preparing written 
answers.  Viet Nam was looking forward to working closely with all WTO Members.  
1.21.   The representative of the European Union  noted that the  Parties' trade openness had 
provided new trade opportunities to enhance economic growth and create jobs. Particularly in the 
case of Viet Nam, the general trend of trade openness pursued had shown positive results with an 
impressive impact on poverty redu ction in the country. The EU had submitted a couple of WT/REG365/M/1  
 
- 3 - 
 
  questions in writing seeking further clarification on the electronic system of certification of origin 
and on the Agreement's relationship with the TPP, to which it had received replies. The EU had no 
further questions.  
1.22.   The representative of Mexico  thanked the Parties for the response to Mexico's questions on 
regulation and compliance.  
1.23.   The Chairman  said that the consideration of the Goods Aspects of the FTA between Chile 
and Viet Nam ha d allowed the Com mittee  to clarify a number of questions and it had now  
conclude d oral discussion of th e RTA in accordance with paragraph 11 of the Transparency 
Mechanism. If any delegations wish ed to ask follow -up questions they were invited to forward 
submissions in writ ing to the Secretariat by 4 October 2016 and Parties were asked to submit 
replies in writing by no later than 18 October 2016. In accordance with paragraph 13 of the 
Transparency Mechanism all written submissions, as well as minutes of this meeting would  be 
circulated promptly, in all WTO  official languages, and would be made available on the WTO 
website . 
1.24.   The Committee took note  of the comments made.  
 
__________