HANOI, December 15. /TASS/. Vietnam and the Customs Union (Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan) will sign a free trade zone agreement, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said on Monday.

The agreement will bring relations between Vietnam and the Customs Union to a qualitatively new level, he said at a meeting with Andrey Slepnev, minister of trade for the Eurasian Economic Commission.

Nguyen Tan Dung lauded the signing of a protocol on ending talks to prepare a draft agreement on the free trade zone. “Vietnam considers promising the development of trade and economic relations with the Customs Union, uniting leading economic players on the former USSR space,” he said.

“The agreement on the free trade zone will facilitate the expansion of Vietnamese-Customs Union partnership in different fields, including in science and technology, and in education,” Nguyen Tan Dung said.

Slepnev said, “Vietnam has become that first country in the Asia Pacific Region that started talks with the Customs Union on the free trade zone.”

The signing of the agreement will allow both parties to increase trade in the near-term outlook, he said.

“Due to the free trade zone regime, annual trade turnover between the Customs Union states and Vietnam will reach no less than $10 billion by 2020,” Slepnev said.