Minister Tran Tuan Anh in a working session with representatives of units on trade protection (Photo: VietnamPlus)
Hanoi (VNA) - According to the head of the Europe – America Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, even major firms will have to face various provisions by the host countries when they broaden investment and export.
According to leading officials of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, trade protection measures are necessary to protect domestic goods, ensure transparency and crate a fair competition, suitable to international commitments.
Moreover, the use of trade protection will not deprive customers of the chances to access chap commodities and imports, or give rise to group benefits. On the contrary, they are a legal requirement and the ministry must act on this.
This was affirmed by Deputy Minister Tran Quoc Khanh at a working session between leading officials of the ministry and representatives of the relevant units on the trade protection in the first seven months of this year, which was held in Hanoi on August 9.
Constantly higher frequency
Reviewing the prominent points, Director of the Trade Protection Department Le Trieu Dung said currently the ministry is dealing with seven cases of trade protection, including five on anti-dumping and two on subsidy. Besides, the office is continuing to deal with seven cases raised in 2018 and four revisions of trade protection measures applied, including those with high export revenue like tra fish and shrimp.
It is noteworthy among the seven new cases, the Indian market tops the list with four, followed by the US with two and Malaysian with one.
The official expressed his concern at the absence of cooperation among a number of exporting businesses which, he said, may harm the response to law suits filed by foreign countries.
This is a case not only for small- and medium-sized enterprises that are short of experiences on foreign markets, Director of the Europe – America Department Ta Hoang Linh said at the session, adding that major corporations also face the situation when they broaden their investment and export.
As the scales and export volumes are broadened, trade protection measures will become more evident, the official stressed.
Vietnam’s exports to a number of markets in the first seven months:
Concerted coordination needed
Director of the Import-Export Department Phan Van Chinh said the application of trade protection measures is not limited in the anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations but conducted in many other contents as well, with more and more complicated developments. He also asked leading officials of the ministry define clearer the power of the trade protection authorities in the investigations related to frauds and tax evasion.
Many firms hold that they are only responsible for the supply of data to security offices while in fact, if they refuse to cooperate in the supply of information to trade protection authorities, the application of self-defence can be hardly effective, the official further said.
Minister Anh agreed with the ideas and added that Vietnam’s export scale is now the 27th in the world. Besides, the openness of the economy is very large and, as a result, the fluctuation of the international market will have a strong impact of Vietnam’s import and export.
The minister also reminded relevant authorities to increase their coordination in the communications work, thus help enterprises grasp information on integration as well as work out suitable orientations for effective management of production and business.
Stressing the forecast of hot issues, especially trade protection measures, Minister Anh asked the trade protection department to intensify cooperation with partners to effectively implement international commitments and minimize the trade protection measures that may come in the future.
The minister also reminded the Market Watch Directorate to well implement the task against fake goods and contrabands, in effective integration with the project on trade protection against frauds on origins, thus providing the best protection to the domestic production and consumers./.
