Vietnamese businesses need to be well prepared for the global economic integration and actively cope with challenges to make inroads into choosy markets, Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang has said.

From now to mid-2015, Vietnam is scheduled to strike the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) and Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with the EU, the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan , and the Republic of Korea .

The signing aims to expand new markets and draw investment in the fields that Vietnam has yet developed, Hoang said.

Therefore, enterprises should regard this as a golden opportunity to increase their competitiveness in the global playground, he advised.

The Vietnamese Government is working with foreign partners to help businesses develop hi-tech support industry in the run up to the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) scheduled to be formed in December 2015.

For example, the Japanese Government has recently built two industrial zones reserved for support industries in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau and the northern port city of Hai Phong .

Vietnam has partnered with the Republic of Korea in building a technology incubator in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho. They are also looking towards the second one in the north.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade is promptly drafting a resolution on the development of support industries, which will be submitted to the Government by early November and come into force by 2015. It aims to simplify administrative formalities for the benefits of involved parties.

Vietnam currently has 1,400 enterprises operating in support industries such as electric, electronic, metal and rubber components and accessories.-VNA