FTAs help Vietnamese goods be made available in all continents (Photo: VietnamPlus) Hanoi (VNA) – The free trade agreement index (FTA Index) will be released by year’s end to evaluate their effectiveness in provinces, cities, and localities, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Department of Multilateral Trade Policy.
The FTAs have allowed Vietnam to diversify markets, attract foreign investment, and improve socioeconomic development in localities across the country, especially in promoting growth in trade value.
However, many experts said that Vietnam still has room to exploit these markets more effectively. The FTA implementation level in each locality is uneven by nature, thus there is different availability for expansion depending on the market involved.
At a recent industry and trade conference featuring the five centrally run cities of Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Hai Phong and Can Tho, delegates affirmed that FTAs have had positive impacts on socioeconomic development, especially in promoting growth in trade value.
Connecting businesses to participate in supply chains (Photo: VietnamPlus) Total trade turnover of the five cities with countries signatory to the FTAs in the 2021-2022 period was estimated at more than 449 billion USD, of which exports are estimated at 189.5 billion USD.
With the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), in 2021-2022, the total trade revenue between the five cities and CPTPP countries reached 79.7 billion USD. With the European Union-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), businesses in these localities exported goods worth 14.17 billion USD to EU countries.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade's recent report on the implementation of the CPTPP, EVFTA and the UK-Vietnam Trade Agreement (UKVFTA) in 2022 shows 52 out of 63 provinces and cities with export activities, an increase of 11 localities compared to that in 2021.
For EVFTA countries, there were 49 localities with export activities in this area, 11 localities higher compared to 2021. Similarly, in 2022, there were 44 provinces and cities exporting their products to the UK under the UKVFTA, an increase of 13 localities compared to 2021.
At a seminar held by the Cong Thuong magazine of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) in Hanoi on October 31, participants found there is room to improve trade revenue under these FTAs.
Leading officials of the Ministry of Industry and Trade support businesses in trade promotion activities. (Photo: VietnamPlus) Do Thi Thuy Huong, an executive committee member of the Vietnam E-commerce Association, opined that there should be cohesive guidance from the central government down to local authorities to effectively utilise the FTAs.
The MoIT needs to give similar guidance to each locality regarding suitable investment attraction categories, she recommended, explaining that it is a way to increase indirect export.
Ngo Chung Khanh, Deputy Director of the MoIT’s Multilateral Trade Policy Department, said the FTA Index gives reliable additional information to help investors make investment decisions, encouraging high-quality investment flows to tap opportunities.
According to the official, the ministry is currently in the final stages of selecting the entity to conduct related evaluations and surveys. It will seek the opinions of relevant ministries, while gathering input and feedback from all 63 provinces and cities. The index is scheduled to be issued and published by the end of 2023./.
