About
On 2 July 2026, the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the Government of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam announced the conclusion of a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (FTA). The announcement followed the EFTA Ministerial meeting held in Reykjavík, Iceland, on 22 June 2026, marking the conclusion of the negotiations. The EFTA-Viet Nam FTA was signed in Hanoi, Viet Nam, on 18 October 2026. The entry into force of the FTA is currently pending.
Key facts
- Population
101,598,527
- GDP
USD 514.7 B
- Date of Signature of the Agreement
18 October 2026
- Date of Entry Into Force
Pending
- Imports to EFTA States
EUR 3,677 M
- Exports from EFTA States
EUR 1,141 M
Information about agreement
Summary
The FTA is a comprehensive and modern agreement that covers numerous areas, including trade in goods, trade in services, rules of origin, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, investment, intellectual property rights, trade remedies, government procurement, trade and sustainable development, small and medium-sized enterprises, and cooperation and capacity building. The agreement aims to enhance trade relations between the EFTA States and Viet Nam by eliminating or reducing customs duties, facilitating trade, and promoting sustainable development.
Over the past decade, trade between the EFTA States and Viet Nam has grown steadily. In 2025, bilateral trade between EFTA and Viet Nam amounted to EUR 4.8 billion and the trade surplus in favour of Viet Nam reached EUR 2.5 billion, up from EUR 0.5 billion a decade earlier (noting that the Swiss figures exclude trade in gold). Electrical machinery, seafood, pharmaceutical products and mechanical machinery were the EFTA States’ top exports to Viet Nam in 2025, while electrical machinery, footwear and apparel, and mechanical machinery were the top imports. These import categories recorded particularly strong growth over the last ten years, with annual average growth rates exceeding 10% in all cases. Among EFTA exports, electrical machinery and fish products recorded similarly strong growth performances over the same period.
Negotiations towards the comprehensive FTA were launched on 2 July 2012 in Hanoi and took place over 16 rounds until 2018, when they were slowed down, before being relaunched on 8 September 2025 for five additional rounds, resulting in their successful conclusion on 2 July 2026. The agreement was signed in Hanoi on 18 October 2026.
Free Trade Agreement
Annexes and Record Of Understanding
| Record of Understanding | Record of understanding |
Statistics
For EFTA-Vietnam trade statistics, see EFTA Trade Statistics Tool
