Mr. Vu Ba Phu, Director of the Trade Promotion Agency, Ministry of Industry and Trade, talked with TG&VN about the Green Economy Forum and Exhibition (GEFE) 2024 with the theme "Creating a Green Future" from October 21-23 in Ho Chi Minh City.
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| Mr. Vu Ba Phu, Director of the Department of Trade Promotion, Ministry of Industry and Trade. |
What are your expectations for the Green Economy Forum and Exhibition (GEFE) 2024?
On June 11, the Prime Minister agreed in principle to allow the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (EuroCham) to co-chair and organize GEFE 2024 to enhance connectivity, promote investment and trade cooperation between Europe and Vietnam, and this is also a practical activity in the process of effectively implementing the National Strategy on Green Growth for the period 2021-2030.
Immediately upon receiving the Prime Minister's direction, the leaders of the Ministry of Industry and Trade assigned the Trade Promotion Agency to closely coordinate with EuroCham and relevant agencies and units to develop a plan and seek opinions from units under the Ministry to effectively implement preparations for organizing GEFE 2024.
The event aims to promote Vietnam-EU sustainable development cooperation through comprehensive dialogue sessions, investment coordination, economic exhibitions, knowledge sharing and technology transfer.
The main objective of GEFE 2024 is to support Vietnam in achieving its COP26 commitments and the socio-economic development goals outlined in the National Green Growth Strategy for 2021-2030. The event will also feature experts, innovation researchers, businesses, students and policy makers from Europe, Vietnam and Southeast Asia in discussions, exhibitions and business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-government dialogues during the three-day event.
The EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) is bringing many benefits to the trade relationship between the two sides. In particular, through EVFTA, Vietnam can access financial resources, green investment as well as participate in green projects of the EU. How are we seizing this “golden opportunity” to promote the green transition?
It is clear that Vietnam's green transformation is divided into three groups of tasks: Raising awareness; improving capacity and perfecting policies and institutions of the Government in encouraging, facilitating and monitoring the implementation of green transformation regulations of enterprises in the economy.
The EU is a pioneer in introducing the world's first initiatives and regulations on green transition such as the EU Green Deal (EDG), the Cross-Border Carbon Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS), the Farm to Fork (F2F) policy, etc.
In recent times, the EU has provided support, both financially and in terms of experts and techniques, through many projects and programs for Vietnamese government agencies and enterprises to raise awareness in the business community, support the implementation of new regulations on green transformation, sustainable development, and social responsibility, towards sustainable green transformation.
In addition, issues related to policy advice or institutional improvement are also raised by the EU, especially through green transition support funds for developed EU countries.
Thanks to the “leverage” of the EVFTA Agreement, exports from Vietnam to the EU have grown spectacularly. However, the challenges from green regulations and standards from this market bloc will be huge. What is your assessment of the preparation and response capacity of Vietnamese enterprises?
After four years of implementing the commitments in the EVFTA, our businesses have grown and matured a lot. This shows the initiative and great efforts of the Vietnamese business community.
Vietnamese enterprises wishing to export to the EU market will have to meet many standards, from the EU Green Deal (2017), carbon tax policies to regulations on social responsibility...
Most of the goods that Vietnamese enterprises export to EU supermarkets and distribution systems are through transnational companies of EU countries. Therefore, in recent times, Vietnamese export companies have had to gradually transform and implement, meeting quite well the requirements of green transformation and accountability for social responsibility.
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| Green Economy Forum and Exhibition (GEFE) 2024 with the theme "Building a Green Future" from October 21-23 in Ho Chi Minh City. |
It seems that the “green transformation story” is still mainly for large enterprises with strong resources. Meanwhile, 98% of enterprises are small and medium enterprises. So what should this group of enterprises do to succeed in the green transformation?
Through the process of supporting businesses in promoting trade, we have seen that the opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises, even very small enterprises, are huge because for these enterprises, the cost of complying with new requirements on green transformation is much smaller than for large enterprises.
For large enterprises, they have internal control systems, management systems that comply with old requirements that have been stable for a very long time, in other words, they have had to invest a lot of money in the current control system and management system. So when moving to implement new requirements to meet new standards of green transformation, digital transformation, they will have to invest a lot more in finance and human resources if they want to fully meet them.
On the other hand, because of the large scale of enterprises, the conversion time of these enterprises will also take longer. Meanwhile, for small and medium enterprises, very small enterprises or startups, they can immediately comply and implement the management system according to the new standards, new requirements of the EU side, not only the EU and other countries. They have more advantages in accessing the market.
What support have the EU and the Ministry of Industry and Trade provided to this business sector?
From the very beginning, the Trade Promotion Agency has carried out many activities to prepare for the green transition. Since 2020, the first seminars have been held on sustainable development and social responsibility.
As Ambassador, Head of the EU Delegation to Vietnam Julien Guerrier mentioned, SMEs are very important to the EU and the bloc has many support programs for startups as well as SMEs.
I agree with Mr. Julien Guerrier that Vietnamese SMEs should participate in EuroCham alliances and research programs in Europe. Cooperation with large EU enterprises is an opportunity for technology transfer and business growth promotion. Enterprises can contact the EU Delegation directly to learn more about support programs for SMEs.
Source: https://baoquocte.vn/gefe-2024-kien-tao-tuong-lai-xanh-cho-viet-nam-287870.html
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