A factory of the Tinh Loi garment company in Lai Vu Industrial Park in Kinh Thanh district, Hai Duong province (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – A conference was held in Hanoion September 23 to seek solutions to support and create favourable conditionsfor businesses to export goods and services to the ASEAN market.
According to Nguyen Vu Kien, head of the InternationalRelations Department under the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI),ASEAN is a huge market that has been opened to all member countries.
To ensure transparency and equality for exporters and avoidconflicts, it is necessary to design a mechanism to support exporters to dealwith problems facing them during the import-export process, he said.
According to Kien, the mechanism will help improve theoperation efficiency of firms and trade relations among ASEAN countries, whileharmonising the business environment in the whole region.
Introducing an ASEAN Portal funded by the European Unionthrough ARISE Plus, Paul Mandl, head of the project, said that the ASSISTportal (assist.asean.org) provides information on legal regulations, criteriaand measures to make their goods and services exporting process to the ASEANmarket easier.
It also helps exporters react directly with authorities ofASEAN member countries and ask for consultations.
Paoplo R. Vergano, an expert from the ARISE Plus, said thatthe ASSIST will help businesses deal with issues related to tariff andnon-tariff measures as well as investment in some areas, but it does notinvolve in the handling of disputes between employees and employers orcomplaints related to discrimination or cases settled by countries, as well asmatters that are not relevant to trade, service and investment in ASEAN.
Nguyen Tuong, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam LogisticsBusiness Association, said that with the support of the ASSIST, Vietnamesefirms can avoid problems during import-export activities at border gates andcustoms agencies./.
VNA
