The signing ceremony took place on December 3 at the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade’s HQs.

The aforementioned protocol was signed in March 2016 after the signing of the free trade agreement between the Eurasian Economic Union and Vietnam in 2015. It has importantly opened up more cooperation opportunities for the two countries in the automotive industry.

Under this protocol, Minsk Automobile Plant (MAZ) and its Vietnamese partner founded Maz Asia Joint Venture Co., Ltd. to manufacture and assemble trucks and other specialized cars in Hung Yen province.

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At the signing ceremony

In the newly-signed second amendment, the two sides devised measures to handle the joint venture’s difficulties to effectively realize commitments in the protocol, especially amid the complicated development of COVID-19.

They also agreed to adjust the locally-making proportion of mobile vehicles to create favorable conditions for the joint venture in its production to meet the national strategy on automobile industry development by 2025 with a vision toward 2035. Other adjustments were also seen in regulations on the origin of goods and the process of granting tariff quotas.

Addressing the event, Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh emphasized that the Government of Vietnam has a policy on developing the automobile industry into an important national industry that meets the domestic market’s demands of competitive and exportable cars that creates a driving force for the development of other industries. The national automobile industry sector targets to become a supplier of spare parts in the global automotive value chain in the 2021-2025 period.

The Vietnamese official also hoped that with the all-out efforts of the two countries’ enterprises and the support from the two governments, Maz Asia Co.Ltd. will further develop, and be an exemplar of the Vietnam - Belarus economic, trade, and investment cooperation in particular and the realization of the free trade agreement between the Eurasian Economic Union and Vietnam in general.

Translated by Mai Huong