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Agreement between the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam on Cooperation and Mutual Administrative Assistance in Customs Matters.

On the morning of November 1, 2023, the Director General of the General Department of Customs, Mr. Nguyen Van Can and Mr. Kees van Baar, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Viet Nam signed an Agreement between the General Department of Viet Nam Customs and the Customs Authority. Netherlands on the implementation of the Agreement on Cooperation and Mutual Administrative Assistance in the Customs Field between the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam and the Kingdom of the Netherlands at the General Department of Customs.

The Agreement Document was officially handed over by the two sides at the Ceremony of handing over cooperation documents between the two countries witnessed by the Prime Ministers of the two countries on November 2, 2023, within the framework of the visit of the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Mark Rutte to Viet Nam.

On April 9, 2019, "Agreement between the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam and the Kingdom of the Netherlands on mutual administrative assistance in the customs matters" was signed by the two countries during the official visit of the Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mr. Mark Rutte to Viet Nam. According to Article 18 of the above Agreement, “The Customs Administrations shall jointly decide on detailed arrangements, within the framework of this Agreement, to facilitate the implementation and application of this Agreement”. On that basis, Viet Nam Customs and Dutch Customs have negotiated a Cooperation Agreement to facilitate the implementation of the Agreement. The Customs Administrations of the two countries have completed negotiations as well as domestic legal procedures to sign a Cooperation Agreement on the occasion of the 50^th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries and more specifically on the occasion of the official visit of Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte to Viet Nam.

Regarding bilateral diplomatic relations between the two countries, Viet Nam and the Netherlands became comprehensive partners in 2019. The Netherlands is one of Viet Nam's leading trade and investment partners. The Netherlands is Viet Nam's second largest trading partner in Europe and the EU's largest investor in Viet Nam with many investment projects of large corporation.

Bilateral trade exchange in 2022 will reach 11.09 billion USD, an increase of 32% compared to 2021. Regarding investment, the Netherlands has about 400 projects and total capital of 13.5 billion USD (according to information and data from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs).

In terms of import and export turnover, the Netherlands is one of Viet Nam's major export markets. In 2022, Viet Nam's exports to the Netherlands will reach 10.43 billion USD (in 2021 it will be 7.69 billion USD). Dutch exports to Viet Nam are 0.67 billion USD (in 2021 it will be 0.69 billion USD). In terms of export turnover, the Netherlands is Viet Nam's 6^th largest export market in 2022 (after the US, China, Korea, Japan, and Hong Kong).

Regarding cooperation in the field of customs, in addition to the signed State-level cooperation agreement in the customs matters, Dutch Customs is one of the partners that regularly cooperates and supports Viet Nam Customs. Recently, based on the strengths of Dutch Customs, the two sides have organized activities to exchange experiences on customs management at seaports, risk management and key identification, customs management at the airport. The two sides also closely coordinate in supporting the provision and verification of information to serve the control and anti-smuggling work. Some of the contents that the two sides are expected to implement within the framework of cooperation and professional exchange in the coming time include: coordinated information sharing, e-commerce, green customs, digital transformation, and inspection, customs supervision for goods requiring intellectual property protection; customs value; origin...

The two sides expressed their confidence that the cooperation documents in the field of customs signed between the two sides will come into reality and be transformed into specific cooperative plans and activities in accordance with their strengths and common concerns of both sides.

On the occasion of the 50^th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries, Director General of the General Department of Customs, Nguyen Van Can, hopes that the cooperative relationship between the two countries will grow stronger and better in every field, and the cooperation between the two countries in the customs matters is also increasingly tight and in-depth.