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Vietnam to Vote on EU Trade Deal as Economy Emerges from Virus

VOA News

   Vietnam has one of the only economies in the world that will grow in
   2020, a distinction to be boosted as it heads into a final vote on its
   trade deal with Europe this week.

   The National Assembly of Vietnam scheduled a vote on the long-awaited
   deal for Thursday. The European Union Vietnam Free Trade Agreement
   (EVFTA) is seen as one tool for the economy to recover from COVID-19,
   as well as a catalyst for labor and environmental reforms.

   Businesses shut down forweeks, butreopening before most nations helped
   Vietnam lure foreign investment, like Apple's first-ever decision to
   make an entirely new product in Vietnam, its latest headphones. The
   Southeast Asian nation reported no deaths from the virus and 325 cases,
   sparing it from the worst of the crisis, particularly as
   manyneighborsbrace for recession.

   The deal, which is the EU's first with a developing nation, is expected
   to sail through Vietnam's rubberstamp parliament and incentivize
   businesses to improve their product standards for export.
   Parliamentarian Hoang Van Cuong said the state should support
   businesses in making use of the deal.

   "The government must make a list of exported goods to the EU market,"
   Hoang Van Cuong, a Member of Parliament representing Hanoi, said last
   week in a discussion to tee up the vote. "These goods are required to
   meet EU standards."

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