KTFA:   Vietnam:

Henig:  Efforts underway to boost trade with UK

06:00 | 29/12/2022

(VEN) - Both capital and production technology of domestic enterprises remain modest, it is necessary to connect resources in order to help businesses efficiently take advantage of the UK-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (UKVFTA), said Ngo Chung Khanh, Deputy Director of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s (MoIT) Multilateral Trade Policy Department in a talk with Vietnam Economic News’ Hoa Quynh.

What is your assessment of the UKVFTA’s impact on UK-Vietnam trade?

We have seen that the UKVFTA has benefited both sides. The UK’s exports to Vietnam are increasing significantly, helping to balance the bilateral trade and at the same time enabling Vietnamese manufacturers to make use of more UK sources of raw materials, technologies and products to improve production capacity.

Vietnamese enterprises export coffee, pepper, vegetables, garments, and footwear to the UK, achieving growth of almost 100 percent and implementing market diversification strategies.

To what standards and practices should Vietnamese exporters pay attention in trade with the UK?

In addition to preferential tariffs under the UKVFTA, other advantages for exports to the UK are related to that market’s diversification of supply sources. However, the UK’s high standards and different thinking about environmental and labor issues are factors to which businesses need to pay attention. The UK has a traditional relationship with its former colonial countries, India and Pakistan for example, which compete with Vietnam’s strong products, such as rice.

Despite certain difficulties, the UK is a high-potential market for Vietnamese exports. However, many Vietnamese exporters are not confident of entering a new market with strict standards and barriers like the UK, hampering achievement of Vietnam’s targets related to the UKVFTA. While both capital and production technology of domestic enterprises remain modest, it is necessary to connect resources in order to help businesses efficiently take advantage of the UKVFTA.

What will the Ministry of Industry and Trade do to help enterprises take advantage of the UKVFTA?

The relevant authority needs to replicate successful export models and implement market access sharing programs for businesses in order to maintain export growth to the UK.

Based on the experience of UKVFTA implementation since May 2021, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will work with localities and sectors to promote the agreement in accordance with the actual needs of enterprises. The ministry will build and operate an FTA portal to increase regular interaction with businesses.

We expect that local authorities will have a stronger involvement in the UKVFTA implementation. The government recently approved a project to evaluate FTA implementation efficiency in localities, which is expected to boost local authorities’ activity in accompanying enterprises’ FTA exploitation.

Hoa Quynh   LINK

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Henig:  Potential remains for Vietnam’s exports to EU

10:49 | 28/12/2022

The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) on December 27 organized a conference to review the implementation of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) over the last two years.

Speaking at the event, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Quoc Khanh said that since August 2020, Vietnam and the EU have seen positive results in their two-way trade despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the first year of the EVFTA’s implementation, bilateral trade between Vietnam and the EU reached US$54.9 billion, up 12.1 percent over the same period the previous year, of which export revenue reached US$34.5 billion, up 11.3 percent.

In the second year, it reached US$61.4 billion, up nearly 11.9 percent, of which exports reached US$45 billion, up 17 percent.

In the first 11 months of 2022, two-way trade turnover reached US$57 billion, up 14 percent over the same period last year, of which exports reached US$43.5 billion, up 21 percent. Key export products from Vietnam recorded positive growth such as textiles, footwear, and seafood, with year-on-year increases of 24 percent, 19 percent and 41 percent, respectively.

The results show that Vietnamese enterprises have taken advantage of the EVFTA. Four out of ten Vietnamese enterprises have benefited from the EVFTA, according to the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

However, according to the MoIT, the EU market still offers opportunities for Vietnamese enterprises despite facing difficulties in accessing the market.

Deputy Minister Khanh said that Vietnam's brand has not been built or is not popular in European countries.

The value and benefits that Vietnamese businesses earn are not commensurate with their potential, he added.

Ngo Chung Khanh, Deputy Director General of the MoIT’s Multilateral Trade Policy Department, said that the ministry plans to coordinate with other ministries and agencies to further provide enterprises with EVFTA-relating information.

Besides, the ministry will also assess the implementation of the EVFTA in provinces and cities nationwide through FTA INDEX which is expected to launch in late 2023.

The ministry will open training courses for enterprises, and speed up solutions to support enterprises in accessing and taking advantage of the EVFTA.

VNA    LINK