Director of the municipal Department of Industry and Trade Le Hong Thang speaks at the conference (Photo; VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – Hanoi will work together with businesses to address thenegative impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak and strive for 8-percent exportgrowth, according to Director of the municipal Department of Industry and TradeLe Hong Thang.
He made the statement during a conference last week to chalk out measures toboost the trade and industry sector’s growth amid the global spread of the newcoronavirus.
The municipal Department of Industry and Trade reported Hanoi’s export revenuedeclined 19 percent to 1.72 billion USD in the first two months of this year,with exports to China dropping 18 percent and those to the Republic of Koreaplunging 35.5 percent. The city’s imports valued more than 3.71 billion USD, ayear-on-year decrease of 20.7 percent, with imports from China down 20.9percent and the RoK down 15.8 percent.
Deputy director of the department Tran Thi Phuong Lan said the epidemic isbadly hurting the global economy, so hitting 8-percent export growth will bechallenging this year. The department has advised the municipal People’sCommittee to develop three scenarios for export growth based on how quickly theoutbreak fades, she noted.
Mac Quoc Anh, Vice Chairman and General Secretary of the Hanoi Small andMedium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) Association, said the biggest challenge tolocal manufacturers is a shortage of materials, particularly those for footwear,textile and garment production, because they are mainly imported from epidemic-hitareas like China and the RoK.
At the conference, participating firms urged the department and relevantagencies to establish an online portal to collect information and opinions fromthe business community to learn about their problems and come up with solutions.
They also stressed the need to launch more discount programmes to boost localdemand and provide affected businesses with tax and fee exemptions andreductions as well as cut interest rates and repayment dates.
Many craft villages, which heavily rely on materials imported from China,across Hanoi have also been hit by the outbreak, said Vice Chairman of theHanoi Handicraft and Craft Village Association, Pham Khac Ha.
Phu Xuyenleather footwear craft village only has enough materials to maintain productionfor two months while production has nearly ground to a halt in Phu Vinh bambooand rattan craft village and Bat Trang pottery village, he said.
The number of visitors to Van Phuc silk and Da Sy blacksmith craft villages hasdecreased 80 percent, he added.
Ha asked the city’s authorities to accelerate trade promotions and demandstimulus events both at home and overseas when the outbreak ends while offeringcraft villages soft loans to resume production.
Thangsaid his department will closely coordinate with the Ministry of Industry andTrade’s Agency for Foreign Trade and relevant bodies as well as 58 tradeoffices throughout the world to help firms seek new sources of materials andcomponents and expand to new markets, for example, Russia, Latin America andAfrica.
The department will also help local firms tackle issues in customs, taxation,land and finance and connect them so they can cooperate and support each otherto reduce their dependence on imports./.
VNA
