After almost three years and 14 official rounds of talks and many mid-term negotiations between ministers, heads of delegations and technical groups, Vietnam and the EU have reached an agreement on all basic points of the Free Trade Agreement between EU and Vietnam (EVFTA), the Ministry of Industry and Trade announced on Saturday.

The EU will eliminate 99.2 percent of tariff lines for Vietnam, equivalent to 99.7 percent of Vietnamese export turnover with the remainder of export turnover enjoying zero-duty tariff rate quotas.

The EU will also eliminate duties on garment, textile and footwear excluding canned tuna over a seven-year period.

Vice-versa, almost all EU exports of machinery and appliances will be fully liberalized at entry once the pact comes into force and the rest after five years.

Entire EU textile fabric exports will be liberalised at entry into force. The EU is currently the second biggest trade partner and one of the two largest export markets of Vietnam.

Out of 28 EU member nations twenty-three member nations had invested in Vietnam by the end of 2014 with over 2,000 valid projects worth more than $37 billion.