WT/REG371/ M/1 
 
10 July 2017 
(17-3697) Page: 1/3 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements  
Eighty -fifth Session    
 
FREE TRADE AGREEMENT  BETWEEN THE REPUBLIC  OF KOREA AND VIET NA M 
(GOODS AND SERVICES ) 
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 29 JUNE  2017 
Chairman: Ambassador Walid DOUDECH (Tunisia)  
1.1.  The 85th Session of the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements (hereinafter 'CRTA' or the 
'Committee') was convened in Airgram  WTO/AIR/RTA/10/Rev.1 dated 16 June 2017 . 
1.2.  Under Agenda Item E.I of the session, the CRTA considered the  Free Trade Agreement 
between the Republic of Korea and Viet Nam, goods and services, (hereinafter "the Agreement").  
1.3.  The Chairman  said that the Agreement had entered into force on 20 December 2015. It had 
been notified to the WTO by the Parties on 2 March 2016 under Article XXIV:7(a) of the 
GATT  1994 and the Understanding on the Interpretation of Article XXIV of GATT 199 4 as an 
Agreement establishing a free trade area (document WT/REG371/N/1) and under GATS 
Article  V:7(a) as an Agreement providing for the liberalization of trade in services within the 
meaning of Article V of the GATS (document S/C/N/861). The text of the Agreement was available, 
together with its Annexes, on the Parties' official websites.  
1.4.   The Factual Presentation on the goods and services aspects (document WT/REG371/1 dated 
13 April 2017) and questions and replies on the Agreement (document WT/REG371/2 d ated 
20 June 2017) had been distributed.  
1.5.  The representative of the Republic of Korea  thanked  the Secretariat for preparing th e Factual 
Presentation, and Members for their interest and insightful questions on the Korea -Viet Nam Free 
Trade Agreement, KVFTA. He thanked  Viet Nam for its cooperation in jointly preparing for th e 
Session.  
1.6.  The KVFTA ha d contributed to upgrading bilateral economic relations between Korea and 
Viet Nam since its entry into force in December 2015 by way of additional market -opening and  
eased rules of origin in comparison to the Korea -ASEAN FTA. The KVFTA would be a model of a 
win-win FTA by further boosting both Parties' exports, while attracting more investments and 
vitalizing both economies.  
1.7.  Regarding trade in goods, duties on 93.8% of Korean tariff lines and 8 8% of Viet Nam's tariff 
lines were subject to elimination in 2017 , the third year of the FTA's implementation. By 2029, 
Korea would  have eliminated import tariffs on 9 5.4% of Viet Nam's  products and Viet Nam would 
have eliminated  tariffs on 89.9% of Korean products.  
1.8.  Even amid lingering uncertainty in the global economy, the KVFTA was playing an exceptional 
role to both economies.  Korea's exports to Viet Nam had increased by 17.6% year -on-year from 
US$27.7 billion in 2015 to US$32.6 billion in 2016, while Viet Nam's exports to Korea had gone  up 
by 27.4% from US$9.8 billion to US$12.4 billion during the same period. Th e trend was continuing 
in 2017 , as bilateral trade between Korea and Viet Nam had increase d, boosted by additional t ariff 
reduction and elimination.  
1.9.  In terms of services and investment, the KVFTA had adopted a higher level of services 
market opening and investment protection than the Korea -ASEAN FTA. With the commitment to WT/REG371/M/1  
 
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  follow -up negotiations on services and investme nt, it was highly likely that the Parties would  see 
increased concessions on services and expand ed investment under the Agreement.  
1.10.   Despite the modest increase of Korea's investment in Viet Nam by 2.5% in 2016 year -on-
year, the number of investments had gro wn by 25.6%. Viet Nam's investment in Korea had 
skyrocketed by approximately 393%.  
1.11.   The KVFTA include d other commitments to lay a foundation to liberalize a wide array of 
trade and investment including rules of origin, e-commerce, intellectual property, sanitary and 
phytosanitary measures, and t echnical barriers to trade. In addition, the KVFTA feature d 
components to further strengthen the complimentary bilateral trade structure by including a 
separate chapter for cooperation that comprise d four areas of int erest: industry ; agriculture, 
fishery and forestry ; rules and procedures for trade ; and other sectors with various sub -areas to 
deepen bilateral cooperation going forward.  
1.12.   On behalf of the Korean delegation, he thank ed all Members for their participation in the 
Session and the Secretariat for its hard work. He look ed forward to a fruitful discussion.  
1.13.   The representative of  Viet Nam  thank ed the Secretariat for its hard work in preparing the 
Factual Presentation of the Agreement . While concurring with the Rep ublic of Korea's views on the 
significance of the bilateral relationship, he emphasized the following. The Agreement, which was 
the 12th RTA to which  Viet Nam wa s a signatory to date, undoubtedly ha d been a significant 
catalyst for trade in goods and servi ces between the two countries. The total import -export trade 
volume had reached  US$43.5 billion in 2016, a remarkable growth of 20% compar ed with the 
previous year, and of 51% compar ed to 2014 when there had been  no FTA between the two 
countries.  
1.14.   In terms  of services and  investment, Korea 's total FDI in Viet Nam had surpassed 
US$50 billion in August 2016. A large number of Korean companies ha d established their high -tech 
sustainable premises in Viet Nam for global exporting. In fact Korea ha d become the la rgest 
foreign direct investor in Viet Nam in the first five months of 2017.  
1.15.   While pursuing regional trade liberalization, Viet Nam reaffirm ed its support for the 
multilateral trading system and firmly believe d that RTAs such as the VKFTA were a building b lock, 
not a stumbling block, in removing protectionist measures and barriers to trade in line with WTO 
regulations.  
1.16.   He thanked  the Committee and the Secretariat for the opportunity to present the 
Agreement. He thanked Canada, Japan, the Russian Federation and Thailand  for their advanced 
written questions  and his  colleagues from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy of Korea and 
the Permanent Mission of Korea in Geneva for their effective cooperation in preparing written 
answers. Viet Nam, as always, was looking forward to working closely with all WTO members.  
1.17.   The representative of Thailand  thanked the Parties for their introduction and for the 
responses to its questions on the schedule of specific commitments, and for their clarification 
regarding the p rovision of information relating to enforcement of competition laws as provided for 
in the Agreement. Thailand had no further questions but would revert back in writing if necessary.  
1.18.   The representative of Japan  thanked the Parties for their introduction an d for the response 
to Japan's questions on intellectual property. Japan had no further questions but was interested in 
watching how the Parties implemented their FTA as Korea and Viet Nam were important trading 
partners of Japan.  
1.19.   The representative of Canada thanked the Parties for the responses to its questions. Canada 
had no follow up questions.  
1.20.   The Chairman  said that the consideration of the Goods and Services Aspects of the 
Free Trade Agreement between the Republic of Korea and Viet Nam ha d allowed the Committee  to 
clarify a number of questions and it could now  conclude 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 writing to the Secretariat by 6  July 2017 and WT/REG371/M/1  
 
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  Parties were asked to submit replies in writing by no later than 20  July 2017. In accordance with 
paragraph  13 of the Transparency Mechanism all written submissions, as well as minutes of th e 
meeting would be circulated promptly, in all WTO  official languages, and would  be made available 
on the WTO website.  
1.21.   The Committee took note  of the comments made.  
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