Vietnamese agro-produce will have many chances to penetrate deeper into South Korea following a free trade agreement signed Tuesday, an official said after the signing.

South Korea will cut import duties on many products that are Vietnam’s export staples, which will increase their competitiveness in the East Asian country, said Le An Hai, deputy head of the Asia-Pacific market department under the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Hai talked with Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper shortly after the official signing of the Vietnam-Korea Free Trade Agreement (VKFTA) in Hanoi.

The deal was inked by Vietnam’s Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang and South Korea’s Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Yoon Sang-jick, witnessed by Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

The agreement was finally reached after eight rounds of talks since negotiations were initiated in August 2012.

The VKFTA covers a wide range of fields, among them tariff elimination and reduction, investment, intellectual property, customs facilitation, trade safeguards, technical barriers to trade, e-commerce, competition, and institutional and economic cooperation, according to the Vietnamese ministry.

Under the VKFTA, South Korea is committed to liberalizing 97.2 percent of import value from Vietnam, and to eliminating 95.4 percent of the tariff lines for the Southeast Asian country, Hai said.

A tariff line is a product as defined in lists of tariff rates, according to the World Trade Organization’s glossary.

The official said the number of tariff lines South Korea will eliminate for Vietnam is five percent more than those committed in the free trade agreements with other countries that are Vietnam’s competitors, including Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and China.

In return, Vietnam will also liberate 92.7 percent of import value from the East Asian country, and eliminate 89.2 percent of the tariff lines, according to the official.

“Vietnam is also the first country to which South Korea has opened its market of garlic, ginger, honey, and sweet potatoes,” Hai said, adding this will offer considerable opportunities to the country in competing with other regional suppliers.

The official said Vietnamese rice, textiles and garments, and coffee will also benefit from the VKFTA.

Under the agreement, Vietnam is committed to offering concessions to South Korea in such industrial product categories as garment materials and accessories, plastic materials, electronic accessories, trucks and cars having capacities of 3,000cc or more, car parts, electrical home appliances, steel products, and cables.

On the other hand, the East Asian country promises to grant market access in service and investment and agrees to promote economic cooperation and technical support in diversified sectors.

The agreement is now pending approval in each of the two countries as per local laws, after which its effective date will be set.

As of March, South Korea was Vietnam’s biggest investor, with a total of US$38 billion in investment commitment for more than 42,000 projects, according to the Vietnam News Agency.

Vietnam-South Korea trade value topped $30.3 billion last year and the two countries are looking to more than double the figure to $70 billion by 2020.

The Southeast Asian country concluded negotiations for many trade deals last year and the FTA with South Korea is the first among them to be signed, according to the Vietnamese government news portal.

The nation is waiting for the finalization of the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, which includes Japan, Australia, Canada, and the U.S.

South Korea currently has eight FTAs in effect, including deals with the United States and India, according to Reuters.

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