What are the benefits of VIFTA for businesses?

VIFTA provides firms with export potential not just in Israel, but also throughout the Middle East. 

>> VIFTA big push to bilateral trade

VIFTA is a comprehensive FTA that covers several areas of mutual interest between Vietnam and Israel, including trade in commodities, services-investment, rules of origin, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, customs, government procurement, and so on.

Open opportunities

Vietnamese policymakers made the correct choice in selecting Israel to negotiate and conclude an FTA. Because the Israeli market is controlled and standard, it provides an excellent opportunity for Vietnamese businesses to connect, learn, and grow.

Vietnam's and Israel's product structures are not mutually incompatible, but they may compliment each other's flaws. Vietnam has a lot of agricultural potential, but it lacks high-tech processing methods. In this aspect, Israel is the world's top country.

Despite Israel's numerous exceptional advances in farming technology, there is a need for tropical agricultural goods such as dragon fruit, longan, litchi, and mango, as well as nutrient-rich seafood from Vietnam such as tuna and shrimp.

Israel offers a potential market for processed commodities in addition to fresh items. Because Vietnam has a high potential for agricultural raw resources, it may leverage Israeli technology to raise the share of Vietnamese processed commodities in the global market.

In the realm of industrial wood, numerous domestic firms are now attempting to join the Middle Eastern market as their typical customers cut import orders. As a result, VIFTA will provide additional options for wood enterprises to enter this market in the near future. There will be more possible markets for the leather, shoe, and clothing sectors to minimize dangers.

VIFTA provides firms with export potential not just in Israel, but also throughout the Middle East. Vietnam's firms see Israel as a route to the UAE. While the UAE is the entrance to the rest of the globe, large merchants travel to Dubai to search collaboration chances through high-class promotion programs like Gulfood and Expo.

>> FTA to offer big opportunities for Vietnamese exports to Israel: Insiders

What to note?

Businesses have a big role in determining whether an FTA succeeds or fails. Before entering a new market, particularly Israel, Vietnamese exporters must arm themselves with cultural understanding, consumption trends, and, in particular, Kosher reles - Jewish dietary food regulations.

A form of meat is deemed Kosher according to Jewish dietary regulations when it originates from ruminants with split hooves such as sheep, cows, goats,...; some types of fowl such as chickens, geese, quails, pigeons, turkeys. Before cooking, all traces of blood must be removed from the meat.

The Chief Rabbinate is the only entity in Israel permitted to grant kashrut certifications for imported food goods. Furthermore, any form of kashrut certificate issued by external agencies or rabbis from the Diaspora or from Israel does not imply the Chief Rabbinate's approval and is not automatically recognized in Israel, according to Israeli legislation.

The Rabbinate's import department is in charge of overseeing the entry of apparently kosher food goods into Israel. The department is in charge of evaluating the legitimacy of the foreign kashrut certificate, the product ingredients and their quality, the identity of the rabbi who gave the certificate, and whether or not the product fits the Chief Rabbinate of Israel's requirements. If these standards are satisfied, the import department will give your product with a kashrut certificate.

The great majority of multinational businesses want to earn the credential. In reality, holding a kashrut certificate allows commercial businesses to reach a large Masorti (traditional) audience. In contrast, they lose just a small minority of the secular audience because the majority of people do not stop from consuming kosher cuisine.

Every import firm must verify to see if the items they want to distribute have international kashrut certifications from the producer. If they do, the importer must verify that the certifications fulfill the Chief Rabbinate of Israel's criteria.

The Rabbinate maintains a large list of rabbis from Israel and across the world whose kashrut certifications are confirmed to match Israeli Rabbinate criteria. If an imported product has a kashrut certificate from a rabbi who is not on this list, the importer must conduct their own investigations to fulfill Rabbinate regulations.

Israel's market is extremely competitive. Aside from Vietnam, Israel has signed other FTAs with high-standard economies in Europe and America, including Switzerland, Norway, Canada, and the United States.

Many experts feel that in order for Vietnamese businesses to succeed in the Israeli market, they must aggressively enhance the quality of their products, satisfying requirements that are not too high but highly precise. Be wary of trade defenses with a large number of powerful opponents.

Assoc. Dr. Ngo Tri Long, an economist, said in order to fully benefit from VIFTA, Vietnamese businesses must be proactive in understanding mechanisms, policies, markets, and trade barriers in order to avoid trade barriers, which improves product quality and competitiveness when entering the Israeli market.