General Information

Vietnam has taken steps to modernise its infrastructure by allowing the involvement of foreign investors and thus relaunching economic growth. The authorities thus want to develop a real industrial fabric and no longer depend on the transformation that only brings modest added value to the country’s modernisation.

Vietnam had already become an attractive alternative for importers whose volumes were too small, and thus neglected by China, but since the U.S.-China trade war, many Chinese and non-Chinese manufacturers have begun to relocate their factories there.

Vietnam is becoming even more attractive as a production base since the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community at the end of 2015. This removed the main tariff barriers on trade between the ten countries of this zone of 661 million inhabitants and a middle class of nearly 400 million people by 2020 (according to Bpifrance).
Also of note is the significant growth of the middle class, which, according to the World Bank, is increasing by 1.5 million people every year, and is expected to reach 33 million people in 2020.

On 30th of June 2019, the European Union and Vietnam have finally signed a free-trade agreement after launching negotiations in June 2012 ; it was ratified on 8 June 2020 and entered into force on 1 August 2020. It covers access to the market, fees (with an elimination of 99% of customs duties in the long run), non-tariff barriers, the facilitation of trade, the liberalisation of services, purchases, the protection of investments, sustainable development and transparency.

Vietnam is also a member of APEC. Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is a regional economic forum established in 1989 to capitalise on the growing interdependence of the Asia-Pacific region. APEC's 21 members aim to increase prosperity for the people of the region by promoting balanced, inclusive, sustainable, innovative and secure growth and accelerating regional economic integration.