Intrinsic strengths to be promoted for higher development: MoIT leader

Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien (Photo: VietnamPlus)

Hanoi (VNA) – The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) will apply various measures to promote intrinsic strengths for a better year for the sector in 2022, Minister Nguyen Hong Dien told the media on the threshold of the Lunar New Year.

Despite complicated developments of the COVID-19 pandemic, 2021 was a successful year for the industry and trade sector, with import-export turnover hitting a record of nearly 670 billion USD, up 23 percent over 2020, making Vietnam one of the 20 largest economies in terms of international trade.

In the year, the country’s export revenue rose more than 19 percent, with trade surplus continuing in the sixth consecutive years at 4 billion USD. The result was much higher than the target set for the year at 4-5 percent, he said.

Minister Dien said that in 2021, Vietnam continued to have 35 kinds of products enjoying export revenue to at least 1 billion USD, and eight among them having export revenue of over 10 billion USD.

In the year, Vietnam optimised the potential of foreign markets, bringing Vietnamese goods deeper to the global production and supply chains, he underlined.

The minister highlighted that Vietnamese goods have approached the most “choosy” markets in the world with strict technical standards, especially for agricultural and aquatic products.

Electronic accessories production at 4P Ltd in Hung Yen province (Photo: VNA)

Due to the pandemic impacts, the MoIT promptly switched the format of trade promotion activities into online, connecting domestic firms and their foreign partners via the network of Vietnamese trade offices abroad, which brought about fruitful results, he said.

Dien noted that amid difficulties in the domestic market due to social distancing to prevent the spreading of COVID-19, a steering committee for the supply of goods to Ho Chi Minh City and southern localities, along with special taskforces for the maintenance of production activities in the southern and central regions, was established. The effective operations of the special taskforces greatly contributed to the connections of supply chains and supported businesses in production and business, he stressed.

The minister said that in 2022, in order to promote domestic production and motivating economic growth, the industry and trade sector will continue to effectively implement measures to ensure the supply of materials and energy serving the recovery and development of production and business activities.

The sector will focus on removing difficulties and obstacles facing important industrial projects, while giving maximum support to factories to recover their operation to keep orders and their connections to the supply chains, he said.

The minister underlined the need to continue speeding up major projects using public investment capital, especially those in energy and infrastructure.

Meanwhile, the sector will realise policies and solutions given by the Government in settling problems facing businesses and people in a timely and effective manner, thus helping domestic firms resume their financial and labour resources serving their production, he stated.

In a long term, he said that the MoIT will continue to complete the legal and policy framework to unify resources from the central to local level, thus mobilising resources for the implementation of industrial projects, especially those in fundamental industries and major export sectors.

The ministry will advice to authorised agencies on support mechanisms and policies as well as measures to mobilise resources for the development of major State-owned and private enterprises to invest in foreign countries, helping them access modern technologies, while assisting small- and medium-sized enterprises to step by step engage in the global supply and production chain.

The ministry will also strengthen international cooperation to optimise opportunities from countries that have signed free trade agreements with Vietnam, he added.

Minister Dien said that in 2022, the ministry will focus on boosting digital economy in line with transforming the growth model towards higher productivity, quality, efficiency and competitiveness of the sector./.