Vietnam Customs held a courtesy meeting with State Secretary of the Ministry of Finance of the Netherlands, Menno Snel

At the meeting, Mr. Can expressed his pleasure to the delegation of the Netherlands’ Ministry of Finance on their visit and work with Vietnam Customs. At the same time, he was also happy that Vietnam and the Netherlands have successfully signed the Agreement on cooperation and mutual administrative assistance in Customs matters on the afternoon of 9 April in Hanoi.

The meeting. Photo:H.N

Addressing the meeting, Mr. Menno Snel emphasized that the Netherlands’ government agencies are always ready to support and promote the implementation of the Cooperation Agreement to bring benefits for the two countries. Accordingly, Netherlands Customs is a Customs agency with extensive experience in risk management and anti-smuggling and is ready to assist Vietnam Customs in its professional operations.

Recently, the economic, trade and investment cooperation between the Netherlands and Vietnam has constantly developed. The Netherlands has become the leading trading partner of Vietnam in Europe with a steady increase in trade turnover over the years. In 2016, import and export turnover reached US$6.69 billion, of which exports reached US$6.01 billion. The Netherlands became the largest export market or Vietnam in Europe and the 6th in the world. In 2017, import and export turnover reached US$7.76 billion. In 2018, import turnover reached US$7.8 billion and export turnover to the Netherlands reached US$7.07 billion.

In the meeting, Mr.Can and Mr. Menno Snel discussed strengthening cooperation between the two sides to implement the Agreement, as well as the strategy and vision of the two sides in customs matters. The sides also discussed exchanging experience in modern customs management, application of advanced management technologies and international standards on risk assessment and customs management for e-commerce activities. The two sides also discussed matters that the Netherlands can support in improving capacity, promoting customs modernization and reform in Vietnam, especially issues of anti-smuggling and enforcement of intellectual property rights at the border, anti- trade fraud and tax evasion.

Mr. Can said thatthe Customs authorities of the two countries have coordinated and implemented cooperation activities within the framework of the Customs Organization’ programs (WCO), as well as Asia - Europe cooperation forum (ASEM) and within the framework of cooperation between Vietnam and the European Union (EU). Accordingly, the General Department of Customs has collaborated with the Netherlands Customs representatives in Southeast Asia and the Netherlands Embassy to Vietnam to organize dialogues with Netherlands enterprises in Vietnam to remove shortcomings and promptly provide and update information on Customs policies and regulations for the business community.

Director General Nguyen Van Can (right) and State Secretary, Menno Snel.

With the increasing bilateral trade turnover between the two countries, the signing of the bilateral customs cooperation agreement with the Netherlands will contribute to facilitating the import and export goods of each country, thereby promoting further bilateral trade relationsbetween the two countries. The mechanism of regular and timely information exchange under the Agreement will contribute to fighting smuggling, trade fraud and customs offences between the two sides, Mr. Can emphasized.

The main contents of the Agreement on cooperation and mutual administrative assistance in Customs mattersinclude issues of cooperation and mutual administrative assistance in Customs matters between parties within the scope of capacities as well as human resources of the customs authorities of the two countries and in accordance with the laws and regulations of each country. The agreement provides the order, forms, ways and measures for each party's customs office to implement. The implementation of the contents of the Agreement, such as providing and sharing of information will be in accordance with Customs regulations of each country; the exchange requests for bilateral assistance, the duty perfomance of officials in each party's territory for the purpose of investigating customs offences will have positive effects, contributing to ensuring national security of each country. The Agreement consists of 12 Chapters with 23 Articles.

The Agreement is the first state-level agreement in the Customs field, creating the official legal basis for cooperation between the two countries, especiallymutual administrative support and trade facilitation cooperation. The signing and implementation of the Agreement is in line with Vietnam's foreign policy with European Union countries (EU) in general and with the Netherlands in particular, contributing to expanding the fields of cooperation and establishing practical and effective cooperation mechanism in the field of trade, ensuring global supply chain security and further strengthening cooperation between the two countries.