EFTA and Viet Nam make progress in 18th round of free trade negotiations

Sveinung Røren, Director of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries of Norway, acted as the EFTA spokesperson, while Le Trieu Dung, Chief Negotiator and Director-General at the Multilateral Trade Policy Department, headed the Vietnamese delegation. 

The parties held in-depth discussions on trade in goods, intellectual property rights, trade and sustainable development, trade in services, investment, rules of origin, trade facilitation, small and medium-sized enterprises, legal and horizontal issues, cooperation and capacity building, government procurement, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, and technical barriers to trade. Heads of delegation also convened on several occasions to take stock of the discussions and remaining challenges.  

Both sides concurred that the negotiations had continued to make progress in most areas, and agreed that the next round could be scheduled for the first quarter of 2026 with the aim of building further on the recently established momentum.  

The report of the round is available here. 

Read more about merchandise trade between EFTA and Viet Nam here.  

Heads of delegation (from left): David Sveinbjornsson (EFTA Secretariat), Patrick Ritter (Liechtenstein), Le Trieu Dung (Viet Nam), Sveinung Røren (Norway),  Hilde Solbakken (Ambassador of Norway to Viet Nam), Ögmundur Hrafn Magnússon (Iceland), Nima Stauffer (Switzerland).