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| Director General of the General Department of Customs Nguyen Van Can and Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Vietnam Kees van Baar signed the Agreement on November 1, in Hanoi. (Source: General Department of Customs) |
On November 1, in Hanoi, Director General of the General Department of Vietnam Customs Nguyen Van Can and Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Vietnam Kees van Baar signed an Agreement between the General Department of Vietnam Customs and the Netherlands Customs Authority on the implementation of the Agreement on cooperation and mutual administrative assistance in the field of customs between the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
The Agreement Document was officially handed over by the two sides at the Ceremony of handing over cooperation documents between the two countries, witnessed by the Prime Ministers of the two countries on November 2, within the framework of the visit of Prime Minister of the Kingdom of the Netherlands Mark Rutte to Vietnam.
Previously, on April 9, 2019, the "Agreement between the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the Kingdom of the Netherlands on mutual administrative assistance in the field of customs" was signed by the two countries during the official visit of Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte to Vietnam.
According to Article 18 of the Agreement, “The customs authorities shall jointly decide on detailed arrangements, within the framework of this Agreement, to facilitate the implementation and application of this Agreement”. On that basis, Vietnam Customs and the Netherlands Customs have negotiated a Cooperation Agreement to facilitate the implementation of the Agreement.
The Customs authorities of the two countries have completed negotiations as well as domestic legal procedures to be able to sign a Cooperation Agreement on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries and more specifically on the occasion of the official visit of Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte to Vietnam.
Regarding bilateral diplomatic relations between the two countries, Vietnam and the Netherlands became Comprehensive Partners in 2019. The Netherlands is one of Vietnam's leading trade and investment partners, Vietnam's second largest trade partner in Europe and the largest investor of the European Union (EU) in Vietnam with many investment projects of large corporations.
Bilateral trade in 2022 will reach 11.09 billion USD, up 32% compared to 2021. In terms of investment, the Netherlands has about 400 projects with a total capital of 13.5 billion USD.
In terms of import and export turnover, the Netherlands is one of Vietnam's major export markets. In 2022, Vietnam's exports to the Netherlands reached 10.43 billion USD (in 2021 it was 7.69 billion USD). The Netherlands' exports to Vietnam were 0.67 billion USD (in 2021 it was 0.69 billion USD). In terms of export turnover, the Netherlands is Vietnam's 6th largest export market in 2022 (after the US, China, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong).
Regarding cooperation in the customs field, in addition to the signed State-level cooperation agreement in the customs field, the Netherlands Customs is one of the regular partners that cooperates and supports Vietnam Customs.
In recent times, based on the strengths of the Netherlands Customs, the two sides have organized experience exchange activities on customs management at seaports, risk management and identification of key points, and customs management at airports. The two sides have also closely coordinated in supporting the provision and verification of information to serve the control and anti-smuggling work.
Some of the contents that the two sides plan to implement within the framework of cooperation and professional exchange in the coming time include: coordination in information sharing, e-commerce, green customs, digital transformation, customs inspection and supervision of goods requiring intellectual property protection; customs value; origin, etc.
The two sides expressed their belief that the customs cooperation documents signed between the two sides will be put into practice and transformed into specific cooperation plans and activities, in line with the strengths and common interests of the two sides.
It is expected that at the end of November 2023, a high-ranking delegation of the Netherlands Customs, led by the Deputy Director General of the Netherlands Customs, will visit and work with Vietnam Customs.
Director General of the General Department of Customs Nguyen Van Can hopes that the cooperative relationship between the two countries will develop more and more firmly and better in all fields, and that cooperation in the customs field will become increasingly close and in-depth.
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