Hanoi (VNA) – The European Union – Vietnam Free Trade Agreement(EVFTA), once taking effect, will benefit the agricultural sector of Vietnamwhich is leading the world in pepper exports and ranking second in terms ofcoffee exports, third in rice, fourth in seafood and fifth in wood and woodproducts.

Tariff-relatedincentives will open up opportunities for Vietnamese agricultural products togain a firm foothold in a wide market with 28 member states. However, it iscompulsory for Vietnamese enterprises to work to ensure quality requirementsfrom the EU side.

In the EVFTA, Vietnamcommits to protecting 169 geographical indications of the EU, while the latterwill do the same with 39 of the former. All the geographical indications ofVietnam are related to food and farm produce.

Under the agreement,24 percent of tariff lines of Vietnamese agricultural products will be reducedto zero in the first year after it becomes effective, and 99 percent will becut after 10 years. Meanwhile, the EU nations will decrease taxes for riceproducts to zero after 3-7 years, 520 out of 556 tariff lines for vegetablesand fruits, 85.6 percent for processed vegetables and fruits, and 93 percentfor coffee and pepper right after the agreement takes effect.

Do Ha Nam, VicePresident of the Vietnam Coffee – Cocoa Association, underlined big challengesfacing Vietnamese enterprises in general and those working in the coffee sectorin particular, especially in ensuring quality and food safety.

He stressed the needto strictly follow regulations on technical barriers and food safety andhygiene committed in the FTAs in general and the EVFTA in particular.

The official advisedcoffee firms to intensify deep processing, and farmers to shift fromtraditional to sustainable cultivation, while emphasizing the importance ofclose connectivity among the domestic enterprises and between them and Europeandistributors.

Experts agreed thatthe most difficult barrier facing Vietnamese farm produce is food safety.

Nguyen Thi Thu Trang,Director of the WTO and Integration Centre under the Vietnam Chamber ofCommerce and Industry (VCCI), said that FTA commitments do not removerequirements on technical barriers related to trade, rules of origin, and foodsafety.

More opportunitiesmean stricter requirements on quality, Trang stressed.

Sharing the view, TranCong Thang, deputy director of the Institute for Agriculture and RuralDevelopment Policy and Strategy, said the EVFTA will make regulations on foodsafety and rules of origin of importers stricter.

Moreover, Vietnamese firmshave to abide by regulations related to social responsibility, labour issues,gender equality, and solve challenges on controlling trade fraud, he stated, suggestinglocal enterprises to organise distribution channels effectively to be able tocompete with imported products.-VNA