Hanoi (VNA) - The Government will review Vietnam’s farming products – suchas seafood, rice, vegetables, pepper, coffee, cashew nuts and rubber, and Halalproducts for Muslim people - in order to increase exports to ASEAN member states.
The review will also include building material, steel and steel products inorder to promote trade activities with the bloc.
Accordingto an announcement this week by the Government Office, the Ministry of Industryand Trade (MOIT) has been tasked with disseminating trade regulations andcommitments to ASEAN to raise awareness of managers, businesses and peopleabout the opportunities and challenges in those markets.
DeputyPrime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung told a recent meeting about trade relationsbetween Vietnam and ASEAN that he had also asked the ministry to identify thedemand for goods in ASEAN markets and analyse the competitiveness of marketswith similar economic conditions and production capacity as Vietnam’s. Based onthe analysis, the ministry will identify which products have an advantage forexport to ASEAN countries.
TheMOIT will also organise trade promotion activities with the participation ofrelevant associations and enterprises to seek new business opportunities andpartners. The deputy PM also demanded that the ministry update marketinformation and introduce Vietnamese products to foreign markets, as well asorganising annual fairs in potential markets to advertise images and trademarksof Vietnam’s enterprises and commodities.
Herequested that the MOIT work with relevant agencies to create favorableconditions for Vietnamese businesses to build distribution systems abroad, aswell as enter into and establish long-term strategic partnerships withdistribution chains in the ASEAN member nations.
Meanwhile,the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Scienceand Technology will review trade barriers of importing nations, especiallythose concerning quarantine and food quality and safety, and work withauthorised bodies in the importing countries to solve difficulties in exportinggoods from Vietnam to those countries, especially farming products, Deputy PM Dungsaid.
Accordingto the General Department of Customs, the export value from Vietnam to ASEANmarkets in the first half of this year dropped by 12.8 percent year-on-year to 8.08billion USD, while import value to Vietnam from ASEAN fell by 4.8 percentyear-on-year to 11.38 billion USD. The drop was due to declining commodityprices on the world market.-VNA