Domestic firms enjoy great opportunities from FTAs: Experts
As a member of 19 underway free trade agreements (FTA), Vietnam has enjoyed great opportunities to expand markets and strengthen the commercialisation of its products and services in the future, according to experts.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Vietnam has made effective use of the FTAs to promote its production and trade, with a trade surplus of US$16.5 billion as of July.
However, experts held that in order to secure long-term and stable development, domestic firms should further broaden their market and strengthen investment in enhancing the quality of the products and services for higher competitiveness.
Nguyen Thi Thu Trang, Director of the Centre for WTO and Integration under the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) said that there are still many obstacles hindering Vietnamese firms from accessing preferential tax rates as well as new markets.
Trang underlined that along with the problems in competitiveness, business environment, information shortage on FTA commitments, domestic enterprises have also had difficulties in implementing FTA requirements regarding origin or suffered from disadvantages under some commitments under FTAs.
She advised businesses to take immediate actions to seek partners, adjust their production procedures to meet requirements in product origins and carefully study tariff commitments and conditions to enjoy the advantages in each FTA.
Meanwhile, To Ngoc Son, Vice Director of the Asian-African Market Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that domestic firms are enjoying many import-export chances, especially when China has reopened its market and there is plenty of room for them to enter other markets such as Hong Kong and Taiwan (China), Japan and the Republic of Korea.
However, Son also pointed to difficulties and challenges facing the business community, including strict requirements for farm produce in foreign markets and fierce competitions from other countries, as long as surging transport costs.
He advised domestic companies to focus on building their trademarks, strengthening the promotion of their products, applying advanced technologies in product processing, packaging and preserving activities. He also stressed the need for them to diversify trade promotion activities, while actively explore technical standards and define obstacles facing them in particular markets.
