Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Women’s role in trade is increasing as theycontribute not only to the growth of the economy, but also the harmony andsustainability of society. 

Globalisationhas bought multinational companies and foreign capital into developingcountries, including Vietnam. These companies usually cooperate with localfirms such as cheap suppliers, helping small and medium enterprises (SMEs) toactively join global trade and benefit from it.

Meanwhile,these SMEs tend to be owned by women or to hire more female workers, increasingwomen’s role in trade. 

Speakingat a seminar on “The role of women in trade facilitation”, Le Thi Ngoc Lien,USAID Trade Facilitation Programme expert on gender equality and economy, said:“More female participation in trade not only benefits the women themselves andtheir families, but it also adds more value to the economy by expanding aspecific consumer market in which women act as owners, workers and consumers;at the same time, it increases social inclusion toward more sustainabledevelopment.”

Theseminar, co-organised by the United States Agency for International Development(USAID) and the General Department of Vietnam Customs, was held on March 23 inHanoi. 

Femaleleaders tend to invest directly and trade in the retail sector, socialservices, education and healthcare, food, household services, commodities forkids, essential goods and fields that male leaders are less interested in dueto low profit margins, Lien explained. This creates diversity incommodities and services for society.

However,despite their contribution to economic and social sustainable development,women still face disadvantages compared to their male counterparts. 

Citinginternational research, Lien said that law and trade initiatives often ignorethe specific needs of women, along with a lack of access to economicinformation. 

“Thefact is that some female leaders don’t even know that their commodities enjoytariff exemptions, so they continue to do business via the third party, whichincreases expenses and risks,” she said. 

Therefore,trade facilitation plays a vital role in promoting trade, benefiting everyindividual, especially SMEs’ owners, as it removes red tape to cut costs andwasted time. It directly or indirectly brings more advantages for women toparticipate in trade regardless if they are business owners, workers orconsumers.

Recentreports showed that Vietnam has made aggressive improvements in tradefacilitation.

“Justwithin two years, from 2017 to 2019, we started from zero to become the topcountry in creating trade facilitation, especially for women,” said Liên. 

Attendingthe seminar, Nguyen Thi Thu Huong, Deputy CEO of An Phat Holdings, said thatexport revenue accounts for more than 70 percent of the group’s total revenue,so it pays a lot of attention to trade rules. 

Thegroup’s revenue fell 8 percent on-year in 2020 due to the negative impact ofCOVID-19, but bouncing back last year with a gain of 62 percent to 455,000 USD,Huong said. 

TheDeputy CEO said that administrative procedures for import and export have shownpositive changes, reflecting the great efforts of the General Department ofCustoms and related agencies in reforming and facilitating business import andexport activities.

Inparticular, the promotion of the National Single Window and digitaltransformation in customs procedures has helped businesses reduce time andhuman resources. 

“Ifbefore, we had to bring stamped documents to customs, now it's all doneonline,” Huong added. 

“Moreover,this sector is undergoing some major reforms such as recently there has been areduction in overlapping and duplication in post-clearance inspection andprocedures for certifying goods passing through the surveillance area by thecustoms automatic management system, while the service quality of customsofficers is much better than in previous years."

Nevertheless,there are still some problems. Huong proposed the customs authority study andshorten the time of probability inspection (possibly within ten days), enhanceinteraction between customs and businesses through dialogue, training andanswering questions via the hotline number.

Atthe same time, the customs authority should research ways for businesses tostore documents online and check in electronic form. And it is necessary tohave a mechanism to supervise the performance of official duties and solveproblems quickly and efficiently to boost trade and import-export activities./.