Quy Nhon Port in Binh Dinh province. (Photo: baochinhphu.vn) According to the department, 20 local firms are exporting to countries which have participated in the UKVFTA. Last year, they generated 47.2 million USD from shipping eight groups of products to these markets, with wood products being the leading export earner.
Deputy Director of the department Vo Mai Hung said the new-generation FTAs like the UKVFTA not only opened up opportunities for Binh Dinh to promote trade relations with developed economies, but also made an important contribution to accelerating the province's administrative reform, improving its trade and investment climate.
Through a transparent and equal mechanism, local businesses would grasp guidelines and policies, then have many opportunities to access information to facilitate their export activities, he said.
They would also benefit from tariff elimination under the deals.
Under the UKVFTA, for example, 65% of all tariffs have already been eliminated from UK-Vietnam trade. In the first six years of the deal, the UK would eliminate 99.2% of tariff lines on Vietnam’s imports.
In particular, 83% of tariffs imposed on Vietnamese wood and wood products exported to the UK - which are Binh Dinh's key export items - have also been eliminated. For all other products, including particle boards, fiber boards and plywood, tariffs will be eliminated after two to four years.
In order to help local firms further tap into the UK market, Hung said, his department would continue to accelerate trade promotion, connect goods supply chains and support the firms to advertise their goods to expand their presence in the market.
Top priority would also be given to improving the competitiveness of local enterprises and export products and disseminating the UKVFTA and markets of the FTA members so that businesses in the province could utilise opportunities brought by the FTA.
Meanwhile, local businesses should continue to ensure the quality of their export products, foster technological innovation to improve the competitiveness of their goods for exports in addition to promoting the application of cross-border e-commerce and joining the world e-commerce floors, he said.
Over the past five months of this year, Binh Dinh earned over 700 million USD from exporting goods to 105 countries and territories. During the period, its export to the UK hit 30.4 million USD or accounting for 4.3% of total turnover, statistics from the department revealed./.
VNA
