HCM City (VNA) - Sustainable supplies of goods and production werekey areas for Vietnamese businesses to focus on in order to join the globalsupply chain, Director General of the Foreign Trade Association (Amfori)Christian Ewert said at a conference held in Ho Chi Minh City on October 21.

Speaking at the Amfori Asia Sustainability Forum, which gathered about 100delegates from Asian countries and territories, Ewert said in the context ofthe rise of Asia, the main products sought in Vietnam were textiles, footwearand fast-moving consumer goods.

Organisations and management agencies in most countries were making efforts toimplement the UN's sustainable development goals, and consumers were becomingmore concerned about environmental protection and green products, Ewert said.

He said the impacts of climate change from production and business requiredbusinesses to become pioneers in sustainable development, focusing onenvironmental factors. Focus was needed from many countries to find commonsolutions for sustainable development, especially issues such as climatechange, the environment, global supply chains and trade wars.

The global supply chain is posing a series of challenges for businesses,including the origin of goods, trade barriers and trade defence mechanisms.Sustainable development required businesses to form a chain of green product supplyand service, and by doing so changing consumer habits.

Vo Tan Thanh, Deputy Director of Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry(VCCI), said there were many global supply chains of goods and services for theEuropean Union and United States located in Asian countries, but the number ofVietnamese enterprises participating in this chain was still very limited.

This shows that Vietnam cannot ignore sustainable development. Vietnamesebusinesses need to identify this as one of key tools to join the global supplychain, especially when the country has deeply integrated into the internationaleconomy. That will provide more opportunities for Vietnamese enterprises toexpand their business.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, most foreigndirect investment enterprises (FDI) were affiliated with foreign suppliers,while the majority of Vietnamese private enterprises sold goods and providedservices to domestic partners. Only 15 percent of domestic businesses suppliedgoods and services for foreign partners in Vietnam.

The statistics showed 8.4 percent of businesses directly exported to foreigncountries, while 7.4 percent sold indirectly via a third party.

Explaining the situation, some experts pointed out that many Vietnameseenterprises still applied outdated technologies leading to low productivity,and lacked experience in working with foreign enterprises and complianceawareness.

The experts also said that many Vietnamese enterprises had not been proactiveor ineligible to participate in the global supply chain, so they could notexploit the benefits of free trade agreements.

At the forum, experts agreed that encouraging and promoting domesticenterprises to meet international standards would help Vietnamese enterprisesto join the global supply chain. This would contribute to the implementation ofVietnam's commitment to the UN's sustainable development goals./.