Israel announces VIFTA Agreement to take effect in November 2024

On November 11, 2024, Israel announced to the business community and Israeli people that the VIFTA Agreement will take effect in November 2024.

On November 11, 2024, at the headquarters of the Israeli Ministry of Economy and Industry, Minister Nir Barkat had a working meeting with Vietnamese Ambassador to Israel Ly Duc Trung. Also attending the meeting on the Vietnamese side were Mr. Le Thai Hoa - Commercial Counselor in charge of the Trade Office and Embassy staff.

On the Israeli side, there were Mr. Roey Fisher - Trade Commissioner and Director General of the General Department of Foreign Trade, Ms. Yfat Alon Perel - former Head of the Negotiation Delegation, officials from the Ministry of Economy and Industry, representatives of the Israel - Vietnam Chamber of Commerce, Israeli enterprises operating in the fields of import and export and agricultural technology such as: B-EV Motors specializing in importing all kinds of cars, Metzer Group specializing in providing agricultural solutions related to pipeline systems and drip irrigation, which has a presence in Vietnam, and Atlantium providing safe water treatment solutions using ultraviolet rays.

Minister Nir Barkat had a working meeting with Vietnamese Ambassador to Israel Ly Duc Trung.

At the meeting, Minister Nir Barkat expressed his appreciation for the efforts of the two negotiating delegations of Vietnam and Israel over the past 7 years with 12 negotiation sessions and 1 year to complete legal procedures for VIFTA to be put into practice.

On this occasion, the Israeli side informed the business community and people of Israel that the Vietnam - Israel Free Trade Agreement (VIFTA) will take effect in November 2024.

In particular, Minister Nir Barkat recalled the good impressions during his working visit to Vietnam and his attendance at the Intergovernmental Committee Meeting between the two countries held in Hanoi in August 2024; emphasized the great prospects for developing cooperation in the Vietnamese market and considered it one of the important gateways for Israel to access other markets in the Southeast Asian region; mentioned the opportunity to open direct flights between the two countries and affirmed that he would make efforts to support air transport enterprises to realize this goal. In the new context, VIFTA will create favorable conditions for strengthening and strongly promoting multifaceted cooperation between Vietnam and Israel.

Mr. Nir Barkat also added that the bill “What is good for Europe is also good for Israel” expected to take effect in early 2025 will apply European standards to consumer goods imported into Israel. Vietnamese goods exported to the EU have met the standards of this bloc under the Vietnam - EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), so Vietnamese goods will have many advantages in Israel when VIFTA comes into effect.

Ambassador Ly Duc Trung welcomed the entry into force of VIFTA, affirming that the implementation of VIFTA will help create favorable conditions for Vietnamese enterprises to export their strengths to Israel and vice versa, access high-tech goods and services from Israel with more competitive production and business costs. Regarding the possibility of opening a direct flight route between the two countries, Ambassador Ly Duc Trung affirmed that this is also a good opportunity to promote people-to-people exchanges and connect the two countries' markets after the situation in the region has had positive changes.

Vietnam Trade Counselor in Israel, Mr. Le Thai Hoa, said that VIFTA creates an important legal framework for cooperation activities between businesses of the two countries. Goods, services and investment activities of each side have favorable conditions to penetrate the other side's market.

In the context of the complicated conflict and the difficult local market situation, the Vietnam-Israel economic and trade relationship was still a bright spot last year. Bilateral trade in 2024 had a spectacular growth.

Currently, Israel is the 3rd largest trading partner (after Kuwait and UAE), the 4th largest export market (after UAE, Türkiye and Saudi Arabia) and the 2nd largest import market (after Kuwait) in the Middle East region.

In 2023, the total import-export turnover between Vietnam and Israel will reach approximately 2.68 billion USD, of which Vietnam's exports to Israel will reach 631 million USD and Vietnam's imports from Israel will reach 2.05 billion USD. According to preliminary statistics, in the first 9 months of 2024, two-way trade between Vietnam and Israel will reach 2.28 billion USD, of which Vietnam's exports will reach approximately 614 million USD and imports will reach 1.67 billion USD.

It is estimated that in 2024, trade between the two countries could reach over 3 billion USD, of which Vietnam's exports will reach about 850 million USD and imports will reach over 2.15 billion USD. Israel is also one of Vietnam's important foreign direct investors (FDI) in the West Asia region.

To date, Israel has invested over 153 million USD in foreign direct investment (FDI), making it the second largest FDI investor in the Middle East in Vietnam (after Türkiye) and ranking 44th in the list of 146 countries and territories investing FDI in Vietnam. In contrast, Vietnam's investment in Israel has reached over 40 million USD to date.

On this occasion, representatives of Israeli businesses expressed their joy when VIFTA came into effect and thereby contributed to creating favorable conditions for expanding business cooperation activities between the business communities of the two countries in the coming time.

Source: https://congthuong.vn/israel-thong-bao-hiep-dinh-vifta-co-hieu-luc-trong-thang-112024-358504.html