Hanoi (VNA) – The signing of the European Union-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA)was a strong and positive sign in demonstrating Vietnam’s policy of supportingfree trade, said Ousmane Dione, World Bank Country Director for Vietnam.
The inkingof the deal was extremely important, especially at the moment when more andmore people in the world are looking at protectionism, Dione told the VietnamNews Agency (VNA).
"Everyagreement comes with both opportunities and challenges and the question here ishow Vietnam can grasp these opportunities," Dione said, emphasising thatthe agreement can help Vietnam diversify trade partners and Vietnamese productscan reach different markets, generating revenue and bringing more wealth to Vietnam.
However,Dione said it would also come with a number of standards which Vietnameseproducts have to meet and this would provide a golden opportunity for Vietnamand enterprises to take bold actions to mordernise and improve nationalstandards to be competitive.
Atpresent, Vietnam has an abundant and “golden-age” labour force who haveknowledge and are adaptable but they are also ageing very quickly. The EVFTA couldbe a catalyst for Vietnam to accelerate further to build human capacity andmodernise different production systems to be able to compete and become anexport leader in some specific sectors, he said.
To dothat, the Vietnamese Government should have reforms targeting small- andmedium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and build the link between specific areas suchas foreign invested companies and domestic private enterprises in order tolevel them up, Dione suggested.
TheGovernment of Vietnam should give more incentives to help SMEs acquire knowledge,adopt new technology and get support from FDI enterprises, he added.-VNA
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