February 14, 2020, by Vietnam Weekly
On Wednesday, the European Union approved a huge free trade agreement with Vietnam, with the EU hoping it will create US$16.5 billion a year in further exports from Vietnam to Europe by 2035. NGOs and activist groups had asked the EU to postpone the vote on the FTA until Vietnam showed a stronger commitment to improving labor and human rights, but the deal went through anyway. (Meanwhile, the EU is punishing Cambodia for its poor record.)
The agreement must now be ratified by Vietnam's National Assembly, which is expected to happen this summer. The agreement also covers intellectual property rights and sustainable developments, and is also meant to hold Vietnam to its commitment to implement International Labor Organization standards and the UN Convention on Climate Change. Vietnam already takes climate change quite seriously, but it remains to be seen what kind of real policies will be implemented when it comes to labor rights. In fact, the government took a group of foreign reporters on a weird tour of a prison outside of Ho Chi Minh City before the EU vote in an effort to look good.
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