Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement and export opportunities for businesses

Hai Phong raises awareness and supports the business community to exploit and maximize benefits from the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement for exports.

On November 8, Hai Phong Department of Industry and Trade and the Multilateral Trade Policy Department ( Ministry of Industry and Trade ) jointly organized a workshop on "Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and export opportunities for businesses".

Representatives of experts from the Multilateral Trade Policy Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) introduce the RCEP Agreement. Photo: Thu Anh

RCEP is an agreement consisting of 15 member countries, including 10 ASEAN countries and 5 partner countries: China, Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand signed on November 15, 2020 and effective from January 1, 2022.

The objective of the RECP Agreement is to establish modern, comprehensive, high-quality regional economic integration to facilitate the expansion of trade and investment, develop regional supply chains, and contribute to global economic growth.

Speaking at the conference, Director of Hai Phong Department of Industry and Trade - Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh informed: Plans to implement free trade agreements are often issued by Hai Phong very early, right after the Government approves these agreements, including RCEP. The implementation of the agreements is always focused on, making an important contribution to the city's economic development.

In 2024, despite the complicated and volatile world economic context, with more difficulties than advantages, some basic import-export indicators of the city still achieved certain results: total export turnover in 10 months is estimated at 29.28 billion USD, up 23.23% over the same period, reaching 88.73% of the annual plan; total import turnover in 10 months is estimated at 23.39 billion USD, up 1.1% over the same period, reaching 73.11% of the annual plan; total retail sales of goods and service revenue in 10 months is estimated at 185,559.8 billion VND, up 13.45% over the same period, reaching 83.4% of the plan.

Conference scene. Photo: Thu Anh

The RCEP Agreement officially came into effect in 2022. Despite its large coverage, RCEP member countries also participate in many other trade agreements, and because it was born later, the rate of taking advantage of incentives from RCEP has not yet reached the desired level. However, RCEP also has strengths that other Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) do not have. RCEP is not simply a new agreement but a consolidation and expansion of previous FTAs, helping to simplify regulations and create a unified trade area, connecting regional FTAs ​​together, creating a larger and more cohesive economic space.

Presenting at the workshop, experts from the Department of Multilateral Trade Policy (Ministry of Industry and Trade) introduced the RCEP Agreement and its commitments related to textiles, footwear, and electrical equipment; rules of origin in the RCEP Agreement and opportunities to promote diversification and increase exports; opportunities to export textiles and footwear to the Japanese market; enhancing online export capacity for small, medium and micro enterprises... At the same time, delegates discussed and exchanged issues related to the RCEP Agreement.

Through the workshop, we aim to raise awareness for state management agencies as well as support the business community to exploit and maximize the benefits from RCEP for Hai Phong City's goods exports.

Source: https://congthuong.vn/hai-phong-hiep-dinh-doi-tac-kinh-te-toan-dien-khu-vuc-va-co-hoi-xuat-khau-cho-doanh-nghiep-357720.html