Conference offers deeper insights into international integration strategy

The conference also mentioned Party and State policies relating to foreign affairs after the 13th National Party Congress, the global and regional situation, and its various impacts on the nation.

According to Dinh Nho Hung, deputy head of the Foreign Policy Department under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the world has undergone rapid changes and is facing both traditional and non-traditional security issues, with security becoming a major challenge.

Peace and co-operation therefore remains a significant trend, despite enduring many obstacles, while globalisation and international integration continues to be threatened and international law and multilateral institutions face great challenges.

The world has now moved towards a safe response to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the vast majority of countries reopening and normalising exchanges in the majority of fields.

Accordingly, five major issues and trends which are of great concern include the Industry 4.0, digital conversion, green transition, such as response and adaptation to climate change, supply chain reorganisation, and labor changes.

The first half of the year saw Vietnamese GDP growth exceed the set high scenario, whilst GDP in the second quarter saw an estimated increase of 7.72% over the same period from last year, the highest figure since 2011.

GDP soared by 6.42%, higher than expected in the scenario and during the same period in 2021, equivalent to the average level of years before the pandemic.

With this rapid recovery, the service sector expanded by 6.6%, 1.7 times higher than the same period from last year. In addition, import and exports reached US$371.4 billion, up 16.4% compared to 2021, of which exports hit US$186 billion, up 17.3% on-year.

The number of international visitors to the country stood at roughly 602,000, 6.8 times higher than the same period from last year, but still down 92.9% compared to the same period in 2019, the period before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dinh Nho Hung shared the foreign policy of the 13th National Party Congress with the synchronous, creative, and effective implementation of external activities, including Party diplomacy, State diplomacy, and citizen diplomacy.

Regarding commitments to international economic integration, such as opportunities, challenges, benefits, and responsibilities of businesses when implementing new generation Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), Lam Thi Quynh Anh of the Office of the Inter-sectoral Steering Committee for International Economic Integration under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said that the nation’s current policy is comprehensive integration with three pillars. This includes further international economic integration, international integration in politics through security and defence, and international integration in culture, society, science, technology, education, and training.

Economic integration is the primary focus, whilst integration in other fields must facilitate economic integration, actively contribute to economic development, strengthen national defence, ensure national security, preserve, promote national cultural identity, as well as cultural and social development.

Integration in all fields must therefore be carried out synchronously as part of an overall international integration strategy with a roadmap and steps which are suitable to the actual conditions and capacity of the country.

According to Anh, businesses are responsible for effectively implementing FTAs, learning more about commitments in FTAs and the markets of FTA member countries.

As a means of actively dealing with trade remedies, businesses must regularly exchange information with import partners, update early warning information, and complete accounting books according to international standards.

At the same time, firms need to improve their competitiveness in applying standards, techniques, complying with regulations of partner markets, applying technology to production and management, along with strategy building, customer selection, and market selection.

Also at the conference, Dr. Nguyen Thi Thu Trang, director of the Center for WTO and Integration and the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, gave notes on the export of Vietnamese agricultural products in the context of joining new generation FTAs.