Hanoi (AFP)

The European Union and Communist Vietnam signed Sunday in Hanoi a long-awaited trade agreement, which will eventually allow to remove 99% of tariffs on goods between the two parties, cutting with a global context of rising protectionism.

The signing of this agreement comes at a time when world trade is plagued by the slowdown in the Chinese economy and the euro zone, as well as the trade war between Washington and Beijing.

The deal is an "important turning point," EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström said at the signing. "This is the most ambitious trade treaty the EU has signed with a developing country," she added.

The agreement includes rules on working conditions, respect for the environment and intellectual property, in this growing Southeast Asian country, which serves as a production workshop for many Western brands , especially in electronics and clothing.

"We want to be certain that the EU's trade in this region is having a positive impact, hence the important conditions built into this agreement," said Cecilia Malmström.

The agreement with Vietnam was signed two days after the announcement of an agreement between the European Union and the Mercosur countries (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay) on a vast free trade agreement.

Vietnam has just ratified the International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention on Collective Bargaining. But Brussels has been criticized for its lack of pressure on human rights, while the authoritarian single-party communist regime has been stepping up lawsuits and harsh sentences against opponents in recent years.

"It's unbelievable that the European Union is embarking on the current conditions in a comprehensive economic partnership with Hanoi," said Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch.

- "Free discussions" -

"I do not think that this trade agreement can solve these problems, but it opens a channel of frank discussions," reacted Cecilia Malmström, interviewed by AFP after signing.

This agreement, whose negotiations were concluded in December 2015, has been approved by all member states, but will still have to be voted by the new European Parliament to enter into force.

The European Union aims to consolidate its position in Vietnam, a market of more than 95 million consumers, of which it is one of the main trading partners.

The two parties exchange each year for about 50 billion euros of goods and 4 billion in services, largely to the disadvantage of Europeans.

Vietnam exports mainly textiles, footwear and electronic products such as smartphones and computer parts.

"I hope the volume and value of my exports to Europe will double in the coming years," said Dang Trong Trung, head of a packaging company based near Hanoi.

One of the fastest growing economies in Asia, Vietnam grew by more than 7% in 2018, the strongest in more than a decade.

The country is part of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), meeting at the summit the previous weekend in Bangkok, which aims to complete before the end of 2019 a draft free trade agreement promoted by Beijing, the RCEP, which would involve sixteen states in the Asia-Pacific region.

Donald Trump's decision in January 2017 to withdraw the United States from a competing Trans-Pacific Free Trade Treaty (TPP) project, which Vietnam was hoping for a lot, played out in favor of the RCEP - and the agreement with the EU according to analysts.

Commenting on the transfer of production from some US companies from China to Vietnam to evade tariffs, the US billionaire said Wednesday that Vietnam is "worse" than China in trade.

? 2019 AFP