The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) and the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry on November 15 jointly held a conference in Hanoi on the forthcoming Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the engagement of Vietnam in the deal.

MoIT Deputy Minister Tran Quoc Khanh, head of the Vietnamese delegation at the TPP negotiations, highlighted opportunities and challenges that Vietnamese businesses will face when the country signs the deal, while offering some proposals to make full use of the agreement.

He said that because the TPP covers a wide range of issues, it is necessary for Vietnam to design transparent policies to help its businesses benefit from the agreement.

Experts at the conference asserted that Vietnam will be one of the countries that benefit from the deal, as TPP’s main target is to reduce and remove barriers for goods and services. Once the tax rate is cut, Vietnam can increase sales of its strong export products such as footwear and garments and textiles, to large markets, especially the US .

According to Le Tien Truong, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Garment and Textile Association, TPP can strongly boost the sector. However, it will also face certain challenges such as regulations on origin and enhanced competition from rivals.

Participants at the event claimed that automobile production will be first sector to suffer from the deal when Vietnam completely opens its market to the US and Japan .

At the same time, agriculture is also said to be impacted, as various products like chicken, beef and pork, which are strengths of the US , will severely limit the demand for domestic ones.

Currently, Vietnam and 11 other regional nations are stepping up their negotiations for the TPP, which is expected to be signed later this year.-VNA