Ho Chi Minh City (VNA) – Ho Chi Minh City is developing an ecosystem to effectively and comprehensively leverage free trade agreements (FTAs), with the State playing a facilitating and coordinating role while encouraging greater participation by departments, local authorities, business and industry associations, business support organisations, and stakeholders across value chains.
Under a plan recently issued by the municipal People’s Committee, the city will implement a range of tasks and solutions to enhance business competitiveness, promote sustainable exports, expand markets, and enable local businesses to engage more deeply in global value and supply chains. The move is also expected to contribute to the development of Ho Chi Minh City as a regional hub for trade, logistics and international economic integration.
Accordingly, the city will incorporate the goal of helping businesses make effective use of FTAs into its socio-economic development, trade promotion, industry development, logistics, digital transformation, green transition and business support programmes.
The municipal Department of Industry and Trade will coordinate with relevant departments, agencies and organisations to implement the FTA utilisation ecosystem. It will review, select and introduce businesses, cooperatives, household businesses, industry associations and business support organisations with potential to participate in the ecosystem.
The city will also promote production-processing-logistics-consumption linkages along value chains that are suited to its industry strengths. It will appraise and select ecosystem members eligible for State budget support in accordance with the law, ensuring publicity, transparency, efficiency and alignment with development orientations.
Following directions from Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Loc Ha, the city's industry and trade sector will proactively update and provide information and data on production, exports and the level of FTA utilisation, while compiling difficulties, obstacles and support needs faced by local businesses, cooperatives and household businesses. It will also coordinate with the Ministry of Industry and Trade to monitor, assess, inspect and supervise the effectiveness of the ecosystem, periodically report on its implementation, and propose improvements to relevant mechanisms and policies.
The municipal Department of Industry and Trade and the Investment and Trade Promotion Centre (ITPC), together with the ecosystem’s coordinating body and relevant agencies, will organise training and information dissemination programmes and help businesses, cooperatives and household businesses access and tap FTA commitments and preferences.
They will also facilitate resource connections, digital transformation and green transition, and efforts to enhance competitiveness, while encouraging businesses and other economic entities to participate more deeply in export value chains under FTAs.
To support businesses joining the ecosystem, the city will step up consultancy, training, market and logistics connectivity, digital transformation and and green transition, and other support activities to improve competitiveness.
Export promotion and market connectivity activities will be carried out, along with organising business-to-business (B2B) trade missions and setting up Ho Chi Minh City’s joint exhibition spaces at international trade fairs and exhibitions.
Businesses will also be guided in applying FTA-related standards, while receiving consultations on cross-border e-commerce and the transition towards green and circular production models./.
