Hybrid DBAV/NVCC event on EU Vietnam Free Trade Agreement well attended and appreciated

On 30 June 2019, the European Union and Vietnam signed a Trade Agreement and an Investment Protection Agreement. The free trade agreements were ratified by the European Parliament in February 2020 and concluded by the European Council on 30 March 2020. Vietnam's National Assembly ratified the agreement by unanimous consent on 8 June 2020. Ever since entrepreneurs in both the EU and Vietnam have been able to profit from the valuable agreements.

The DBAV/NVCC invited Dr. Oliver Massmann, partner at Duane Morris LLP and a leading specialist on the topic of the EU Vietnam FTA to give members and special guests of the DBAV/NVCC, both on- and offline, an update about the results of the implementation of the agreements and his thoughts and insights about the opportunities the agreements offer.

The live meeting was co-hosted by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) at this agency's head office in The Hague. Around 20 guests attended the event from there. Some 40 other guests joined online from Vietnam, but also from Finland and elsewhere.

The meeting was opened by the Chairman of the Netherlands Vietnam Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Joost Vrancken Peeters. Next, Ms. Simone Ho, Advisor International Business of the RVO, gave a presentation on the services of the government agency and how entrepreneurs can benefit from these. The presentation of Ms. Ho is available on the website of the DBAV/NVCC.

Illustrated by his presentation and verbal examples, Dr. Massmann focused on the aspects of the FTA and the opportunities this agreement offers. He also took the time to answer questions from both guests in the RVO Building and online participants.

A copy of the presentation of Dr. Massmann can be requested by sending an office to the guest speaker himself at OMassmann@duanemorris.com