The Ministry of Industry and Trade has been making efforts to implement many solutions to promote export growth.

Increasing export turnover to Canada: Need to take more advantage of incentives from CPTPP Goods export is a bright spot in the economic picture of the first quarter of 2024

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, in the first quarter of 2024, the total import-export turnover of goods is estimated at 178.04 billion USD, up 15.5% over the same period last year. Of which, exports are estimated at 93.06 billion USD, up 17% over the same period last year (the same period in 2023 decreased by 11.6%); imports are estimated at 84.98 billion USD, up 13.9% over the same period last year (the same period in 2023 decreased by 15.4%).

In the first quarter of 2024, there were 16 items with export turnover of over 1 billion USD, accounting for 82.1% of total export turnover (there were 4 items with export turnover of over 5 billion USD, accounting for 52.7%), 2 more items than the same period last year (in the first quarter of 2023, there were 14 items with export turnover of over 1 billion USD).

Bộ Công Thương nỗ lực triển khai nhiều giải pháp để đạt mục tiêu tăng trưởng xuất khẩu năm 2024

Mr. Tran Thanh Hai - Deputy Director of the Import-Export Department, Ministry of Industry and Trade. Photo: Can Dung

At the regular press conference on the industrial and commercial production situation in March and the first 3 months of 2024 of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, answering reporters' questions about the reasons for the positive signals in export activities in the first quarter of 2024, Mr. Tran Thanh Hai - Deputy Director of the Import-Export Department, Ministry of Industry and Trade said that currently, the production and business situation is developing quite well thanks to its contribution to the recovery of export growth. In particular, many of Vietnam's major export markets have also recovered, overcoming the recession period.

On the other hand, according to the leader of the Import-Export Department, the improvement in goods exports must be attributed to the effectiveness of the Government's solutions to support businesses to recover their operations, such as tax reduction and administrative procedure reform. At the same time, Vietnam has been actively attracting investment, as well as welcoming waves of foreign investment.

In addition, regarding the situation of exploiting markets with FTAs that Vietnam has signed, Mr. Tran Thanh Hai emphasized that Vietnam currently signs 16 FTAs, basically all FTA markets are very effective and Vietnam's major trading partners are all in the FTAs.

In addition, "there are currently some regions and areas that do not have FTAs such as the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa. Therefore, the Ministry of Industry and Trade is making efforts to seek the possibility of signing FTAs, thereby contributing to improving and enhancing export activities in the coming time" - Mr. Hai said.

According to the representative of the Import-Export Department, in addition to the 16 FTAs that Vietnam has participated in, there are currently 3 FTAs under negotiation, which are the FTA between Vietnam and the EFTA bloc (including 4 countries: Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein); Vietnam participates in the ASEAN and Canada FTA negotiation framework; Vietnam FTA with the UAE is currently making efforts to conclude negotiations soon. " As for the Vietnam FTA with the UAE, this is an FTA that has been negotiated quickly, when the two sides realized the potential for development cooperation " - Mr. Hai said.

Stating solutions to achieve the export growth target of 377 billion USD in 2024, an increase of about 6% compared to 2023, Mr. Tran Thanh Hai said: The Ministry of Industry and Trade continues to make efforts to implement many proposed solutions, including expanding negotiations on FTAs and popularizing incentives from FTAs. At the same time, promoting innovation in trade promotion activities, reforming administrative procedures, digital transformation, and simplifying import and export procedures to help businesses facilitate the export of goods.

Emphasizing the effective exploitation of FTA markets, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Sinh Nhat Tan further stated that, in addition to continuing to expand and study the signing of more FTAs, in order to promote the export of goods and improve the effectiveness of economic integration, Vietnam needs to enhance the upgrading of the FTAs it has signed; make better use of the incentives of FTAs, exploit traditional markets and continue to expand potential markets.

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