Le Hoang Oanh, DeputyDirector of the Trade Promotion Agency under the Ministry of Industryand Trade (MIT) made the remarks at the conference themed “ASEAN –opportunity for Vietnamese businesses”.
To utilise tradeexchange opportunities with the region, especially when the ASEANEconomic Community will be established by 2015, domestic businesses mustspare no efforts to renovate their technology, improve the quality ofproducts and specify market chances, delegates said at the event.
Vietnamese firms need to pay much attention to legal regulations onagricultural products, particularly those on food safety, said NguyenManh Dung, Director of the Agro-Forestry, Seafood Processing andSalt Industry Department under the Ministry of Agricultureand Rural Development.
They also must actively reform theirproduction technologies and food processing equipment to better meet themarket’s requirement, Dung added.
At the conference, expertssaid ASEAN is the third largest market of Vietnamese exporters,following the US and EU. The country has paid sufficient attention tothe trade liberalisation process of ASEAN and extensive ASEAN free tradeagreements (FTA).
The participation brought opportunitiesand also difficulties to Vietnamese businesses such as non-tariffbarriers, quality standard regulations, and certificates of origin ofexports.
By 2015, 90 percent of tariff categories in ASEAN will be reduced to zero percent.
Meanwhile, domestic exporters still do not take full advantage of taxcuts from FTAs while many small and medium–sized enterprises lackinformation on the market. Thus, they need to further consult usefulinformation and learn about tax incentives.-VNA