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.
Goods transportation at Gemalink port in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) – As a member of 19 underway freetrade agreements (FTA), Vietnam has enjoyed great opportunities to expandmarkets and strengthen the commercialisation of its products and services inthe future, according to experts.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Vietnam hasmade effective use of the FTAs to promote its production and trade,with a trade surplus of 16.5 billion USD as of July.
However, experts held that in order to secure long-term andstable development, domestic firms should further broaden their market andstrengthen investment in enhancing the quality of the products and services forhigher competitiveness.
Nguyen Thi Thu Trang, Director of the Centre for WTO andIntegration under the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) said thatthere are still many obstacles hindering Vietnamese firms from accessing preferentialtax rates as well as new markets.
Trang underlined that along with the problems incompetitiveness, 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 seekpartners, adjust their production procedures to meet requirements in productorigins and carefully study tariff commitments and conditions to enjoy theadvantages in each FTA.
Meanwhile, To Ngoc Son, Vice Director of the Asian-AfricanMarket Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that domesticfirms are enjoying many import-export chances, especially when China hasreopened its market and there is plenty of room for them to enter othermarkets such as Hong Kong and Taiwan (China), Japan and the Republic of Korea.
However, Son also pointed to difficulties and challenges facingthe business community, including strict requirements for farm produce inforeign 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 technologiesin product processing, packaging and preserving activities. He also stressedthe need for them to diversify trade promotion activities, while actively exploretechnical standards and define obstacles facing them in particular markets./.
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Goods transportation at Gemalink port in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province (Photo: VNA) 
