HANOI, Oct 14 (Reuters) – The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and Vietnam are set to sign a free trade deal on Sunday, officials said this week, after long-stalled talks were relaunched last year amid global tensions over US tariffs.
Vietnam and the EFTA bloc, which includes Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, concluded negotiations in July after years of talks which were first launched in 2012. In September, Vietnam said it detained three activists on suspicion of terrorism – including a Norwegian national – which did not affect the previously planned signing. Human rights groups said the people had been abducted in Cambodia.
The deal will be signed in Hanoi on Sunday in the presence of Swiss Economy Minister Guy Parmelin, a spokesperson for his ministry said on Wednesday. Parmelin, who also holds Switzerland’s rotating presidency, is currently on a visit to Asia. Two officials in Hanoi confirmed that the signing would occur on Sunday.
In July, the EFTA said the accord would cover rules of origin, investment, intellectual property rights and competition, trade remedies and government procurement. Officials in Hanoi had earlier said the deal would have been signed in October, with the precise date determined by the leaders’ agendas.
Vietnam’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Norway’s foreign ministry did not answer a question about the impact that the detention of Norwegian citizen Nguyen Duc Thuan might have on the deal. A spokesperson said, however, that the ministry had asked Vietnam to grant consular access.
In late September, Vietnamese authorities said Thuan was detained on terrorism charges together with Australian citizen Ho Pham Hiep Huy and Vietnamese national Thai Cong Truong Son.
The ministry of public security said the three men had been arrested on September 18 while trying to illegally cross from Cambodia into Vietnam.
It said the men are members of Viet Tan, a US-based pro-democracy group that Vietnam’s Communist government has designated as a terrorist organisation.
Viet Tan said the men had been abducted in Cambodia. Cambodia’s Ministry of Interior said Cambodian authorities did not arrest the activists and had no records of them departing from the country.
On Wednesday, the US-based, non-governmental group Human Rights Watch called for the immediate release of the three activists “who went missing in Cambodia.”
Earlier in October, dozens of international human rights organisations condemned “the abduction” in Cambodia of the three activists and their detention in Vietnam.
(Reporting by Phuong Nguyen and Francesco Guarascio in Hanoi, Dave Graham in Zurich, Chantha Lach in Phnom Penh; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus)
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