Vietnamese enterprises, especially small- and medium-sized companies,
have been repeatedly warned to prepare for both the challenges and
opportunities when the ASEAN Economic Community is established next
year.
The 46th ASEAN Economic Ministers’ Meeting (AEM-46) kicked off on August
25 in the capital Nay Pyi Taw of Myanmar, which is ASEAN rotating
chair this year.
During nearly three decades of renewal, Vietnam has seen strong progress
in its multilateral external relations, which has significantly
contributed to enhancing status and strength of the country.
Vietnam should undertake stronger economic restructuring measures,
targeting a more comprehensive and transparent effort, and allowing for
more effective allocation of resources, radio The Voice of Vietnam (VOV)
quoted Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Quoc Khanh as saying.
Vietnam spent nearly 500 USD million in the first half of 2014 to import
25,000 completely built units (CBU) cars, an increase of 44.4 percent
in volume and 53.9 percent in value year-on-year, according to the
General Statistics Office (GSO).
Vietnam imported 10,100 completely built units (CBU) cars worth 180
million USD in the first quarter, up 44.1 percent in volume and 32.2
percent in value year-on-year.
A HSBC report released on March 19 anticipates that Vietnam's
merchandise exports will grow at around 12 percent annually between
2014-2016, although last year's figure was 15.4 percent in nominal US
dollar terms.
Vietnam needs a range of sound policies to develop the automobile
sector in the face of fierce competition with foreign rivals as the
import tariff will slump to zero percent once the country joins the
ASEAN Free Trade Area by 2018.
The ministers of trade and economics from Southeast Asian countries have
participated in the ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM) Roadshow in Chengdu,
Shanghai and Beijing, China, from October 22-26.
Vietnam's automotive industry could face major collapse under
commitments to the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) which will abolish auto
import taxes in 2018.
ASEAN+ will waive taxes on
car imports between ASEAN member countries, as well as Japan, the
Republic of Korea and China, who are party to the agreement.
The Japanese Government has pledged to invest in six key industrial sectors in Vietnam, including household electricity, food processing,
shipbuilding, agricultural machinery, environment and energy saving and
the automobile and spare part production industry.
More than 400 delegates representing the health and pharmaceutical
sector of China and ASEAN member countries attended the 2013
ASEAN-China Summit Forum on Traditional Medicine in Yulin city, China
’s Guangxi province on April 15.
China and ten ASEAN member countries launched a cooperation plan in science and
technology on September 22 in Nanning, the capital of China's
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, on the sidelines of the ninth China-ASEAN Expo.
Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai joined representatives
from ASEAN countries at a discussion on ASEAN free trade area and
regional economic integration in the framework of the Boao Forum in
Hainan , China , on April 2.
