The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and Vietnam are expected to sign a free trade agreement in Hanoi on Sunday, completing negotiations that began in 2012 and were relaunched last year amid global tensions over US tariffs, officials said on Wednesday.
The signing will take place in the presence of Swiss Economy Minister Guy Parmelin, a spokesperson for his ministry said. Parmelin, who also holds Switzerland’s rotating presidency, is currently visiting Asia. Two officials in Hanoi separately confirmed that the agreement would be signed on Sunday.
EFTA comprises Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. The bloc and Vietnam concluded negotiations in July after years of discussions. The agreement is expected to establish rules governing trade and investment between the parties, covering areas including rules of origin, intellectual property rights, competition, trade remedies and government procurement, according to EFTA.
Vietnamese officials had previously indicated that the deal would be signed in October, with the precise date dependent on the schedules of the leaders involved. Vietnam’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
The planned signing comes amid a diplomatic issue involving the detention in Vietnam of three activists, including Norwegian citizen Nguyen Duc Thuan. The case has drawn criticism from human rights organisations, which say the men were abducted in Cambodia before being detained in Vietnam. The controversy has not altered the previously planned timetable for the trade agreement.
Vietnamese authorities announced in late September that Thuan had been detained alongside Australian citizen Ho Pham Hiep Huy and Vietnamese national Thai Cong Truong Son on terrorism charges. Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security said the three men were arrested on 18 September while attempting to cross illegally from Cambodia into Vietnam.
The ministry said the men were members of Viet Tan, a US-based pro-democracy organisation that Vietnam’s Communist government has designated a terrorist organisation. Viet Tan disputed the official account, saying the three activists had been abducted in Cambodia.
Cambodia’s Ministry of Interior said Cambodian authorities had not arrested the men and had no records of their departure from the country. The conflicting accounts have fuelled concerns among international human rights organisations over the circumstances of the activists’ detention.
On Wednesday, the US-based non-governmental organisation Human Rights Watch called for the immediate release of the three activists, describing them as people who had “gone missing in Cambodia”. Earlier in October, dozens of international human rights organisations condemned what they called the abduction of the men in Cambodia and their subsequent detention in Vietnam.
The Norwegian government has also sought access to its detained citizen. Norway’s foreign ministry did not answer a question about whether Thuan’s detention could affect the trade agreement, but a spokesperson said the ministry had asked Vietnam to grant consular access.
Despite the dispute, officials have continued preparations for Sunday’s signing. The agreement’s completion follows the conclusion of negotiations in July, ending a process that had remained unresolved for more than a decade after talks were first launched in 2012.
EFTA said in July that the agreement would establish provisions across several areas of economic cooperation, including investment, intellectual property rights, competition and public procurement. The signing in Hanoi is scheduled to proceed as planned, according to officials from Switzerland and Vietnam.
