Vietnam’s pact with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) which took effect in October 2016 has enabled the country to access a market of 183 million people with a GDP of nearly $2.2 trillion. The union include: Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgystan.

Currently about 900 Vietnamese exporters are active in the EAEU market, with key exports including seafood, coffee, rubber, tea, rice, apparel, woodwork products and confectionery. From 2017, there has been a strong increase in Vietnam’s import of Russian food, coal, steel, paper products and chemicals, while healthy growth has been recorded for Vietnamese shipments of mobile phone components, apparel and farm produce to Russia.

In fact, Vietnam-Russia trade makes up 90 per cent of total trade revenue between the country and the EAEU, while trade between Vietnam and Belarus and Armenia in 2016 even recorded a decrease from 2015. The reason: Vietnam has a long-time trade partnership with Russia and an inadequate understanding about other EAEU markets.

So Vietnam-EAEU trade has fallen short of potential, staying at just over $3 billion on an annual average. Vietnamese enterprises have to study these markets and boost their product quality to maximize trade before the EAEU signs free trade agreements with more nations.