Illustrative image (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnamese enterprises, especially small- and medium-sized enterprises(SMEs), should quickly improve product quality and value to consolidate theircompetitiveness in the European Union market, an online conference on June 5heard.
The conference wasjointly held by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) and the Vietnam Association of Smalland Medium-Sized Enterprises (VINASME) in a bid to help SMEs optimise the opportunitiesgenerated by the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA).
Tran Thanh Hai, DeputyDirector of the MoIT’s Import-Export Department, suggested enterprises pay greaterattention to food hygiene, corporate social responsibility, and transparency inlabour information and product origin.
He also urged themto study the contents of the EVFTA, in particular commitments regarding tariffsand product origin.
SMEs should viewthe agreement as the first stage in their business activities and competitive pressureas a source of momentum to move forward, Hai emphasised.
Cooperating withmarket partners would help attract more investment to Vietnam, thus enablingSMEs to join regional and global supply chains more intensively, he added.
The MoIT hasrolled out various synchronous solutions in anticipation of the agreement, hesaid, including a draft action plan that defines the targets and tasks ofrelevant ministries and agencies in implementation efforts, which has beensubmitted to the Government for approval.
Signed on June30, 2019, the EVFTA is now awaiting approval from the Vietnamese NationalAssembly.
The EU is one ofVietnam’s three largest importers, along with the US and China. Vietnam’sexports to the market last year reached 41.54 billion USD, or 15.7 percent ofthe country’s total export value.
Vietnam accountsfor just 2 percent of the EU market share, however, meaning there is ample roomfor growth./.
VNA
