Electronics components are made at Youngbag Co in Binh Xuyen Industrial Zone. (Photo: VNA) Last year, bilateral trade between Vietnamand the Asia-Africa regions topped 444 billion USD, up 23 percent year-on-year,or 67.3 percent of the Southeast Asian country's total tradevalue, according to the General Department of Customs.
Vietnam's exports to the two blocs hit 165.9billion USD, a year-on-year increase of 15 percent or equivalentto 50.2 percent of the country's total export turnover.
Among Vietnamese export items recording astrong turnover in 2021 included phones and components with 32.29billion USD; computers, electronics and components (27.32 billion USD); machinery,equipment, tools and spare parts (13 billion USD) and textiles andgarments (10.6 billion USD).
Vietnam's exports to major Asian partners suchas China, the Republic of Korea, Japan and ASEAN all saw high growth rateslast year, contributing to the positive growth of the country's exports tothe bloc.
In 2021, Vietnam exported 56 billion USD worthof goods to China, up 14.51 percent; 21.7 billion USD to the RoK, up 13.61percent; 19.8 billion USD, up 3 percent and 28.6 billion USD to ASEANcountries, up 24 percent.
According to the MoIT, Vietnam's total importturnover from the Asian and African markets also experienced a significantincrease of 28 percent to 278.35 billion USD last year, accountingfor 84.3 percent of its total import value.
Staples posting strong importturnovers were computers, electronic products and components with 64.7 billion USD; machinery,equipment, tools and spare parts (40.7 billion USD); phones and components(20.7 billion USD); fabrics (13.7 billion USD); iron and steel (10.7billion USD) and plastic material (10.39 billion USD).
The ministry said imports from theAsia-Africa region helped maintain the country's supply chain, inputmaterials for production and meet the needs of the people.
It is forecast that in 2022, Vietnam's tradewith markets around the world will continue to face many difficulties. TheCOVID-19 pandemic remained an obstacle to the recovery of the globaleconomy as new variants continue to appear, thus increasing the spread andchallenging global vaccination efforts.
Demand for goods in the manufacturing andconsumer sectors might recover to pre-pandemic levels, buta growth spike was unlikely, it said, adding thatmany countries would continue to apply strict measures to controlpeople and goods at border gates and seaports.
Expanding into new export outlets
To overcome these obstacles, the MoIT saidthat it would closely follow the State directions on ensuringproduction activities, maintaining the supply chain, constantly expandingexport markets, ensuring supply from the import market while focusing onimplementing solutions to help businesses effectively tap into the Asianand African markets in the coming time.
Specifically, it would continue to improve thelegal framework for bilateral trade and sub-regional cooperation of Vietnamwith partners in the region to diversify markets and import and exportproducts towards the country’s sustainable commercial development.
At the same time, high-level cooperation withforeign partners would be included to remove difficulties, maintain smoothcommercial activities, and help businesses recover after the pandemic.
The ministry also emphasised the importanceof effectively implementing signed free trade agreements such as theASEAN-China Free Trade Area, Vietnam-Korea Free Trade Agreement, Vietnam-JapanEconomic Partnership Agreement, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnershipand the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.
A survey by the MoIT and VietnamChamber of Commerce and Industry revealed that businesses had not yetgrasped many opportunities from markets that Vietnam had signedFTAs with due to lack of information.
The MoIT said it would pay more attentionto providing enterprises with updated information and guidance onmarket access to raise their awareness about key market developments,expanding information on new and niche markets.
The ministry will promote tradeactivities, and support businesses to attend fairs and exhibitionsboth online and in-person. Facilitating digital transformation andapplication of information technology in State management of trade and tradepromotion will be part of its efforts.
Meanwhile, it will concentrate onimproving the capacity of enterprises to respond to trade remedies of othercountries, and actively researching and proposing trade remedies to protect theinterests of domestic industries.
It will also direct the Vietnamese tradeoffices and trade promotion offices in foreign markets to promptly informbusinesses about the market situation to remove difficulties forenterprise import and export activities./.
VNA
