Pham Thiet Hoa, Director of the Online Trade and Investment Information Portal (ITPC) said the completion of the roadmap tocut tariffs in ASEAN offers opportunities for Vietnamese businesses to increaseexports to the bloc, which is the fourth biggest export market of Vietnam,after the EU, the US and China.
With the combined population of 660 million people, ASEAN is expected tobecome the fourth largest economy in the word by 2030.
Wu Jun, Consul General of China in Ho Chi Minh City said China has beenthe largest trade partner of Vietnam for years while Vietnam is the largestASEAN trader and among top ten global traders of China.
In the past 11 months, Vietnam earned an export value of over 38 billionUSD from China, a surge of 23 percent from the same time in 2017.
As the second largest economy in the world with a market population of 1.3billion people, China is projected to import more than 30,000 billion USD worthof goods and 10,000 billion USD worth of services in 15 years.
To fully explore the ASEAN market, Vietnamese businesses need to takepart in more trade promotion activities and market research programmes, andstudy market needs regarding commodities, services, prices, consumers’ taste,and consumer trends, Hoa said.
Meanwhile, Nguyen Thi Ngoc Hang, head of the marketing desk at the office for Halalcertification in Ho Chi Minh City said many Vietnamese businesses have yet paidattention to satisfying the needs of Islamic people who account for half ofASEAN’s population.
Vietnam’s products with Halal certification could reach other Islamic marketsin the world after they enter the ASEAN market, according to Hang.
To increase exports to China, Wu Jun suggested Vietnamese businesseskeep them constantly updated with market demands along with boosting marketingactivities.
Amid technology-based consumer trends, Vietnamese businesses are advised toprepare technological foundations to speed up trans-national e-commerce.
They need to use advanced machinery and technology in production toensure the consistent quality of products to meet the needs of large-scalemarkets, experts said.-VNA