Improving and upgrading the Government's Information Portal on FTAs
Currently, Vietnam has implemented 16 FTAs with more than 60 participating countries, covering all continents, accounting for nearly 90% of global GDP... but in reality, enterprises have not yet taken advantage of many opportunities from FTAs. What changes are needed so that enterprises can receive and take advantage of opportunities from FTAs more effectively, sir?
- Vietnam is one of the leading countries in the region in participating in international economic cooperation frameworks, creating conditions to promote exports and maintain a trade surplus for many consecutive years. After many years of implementing solutions to promote FTAs so that localities and enterprises can learn and take advantage of opportunities, the Ministry of Industry and Trade now realizes that it is necessary to limit conferences and seminars that are general and general about FTAs, but rather focus on building thematic content, focusing on issues that enterprises are interested in, must be specific, close to reality, especially need to focus on promoting content on sustainable development (labor, environment...), ways to take advantage of incentives and organize dialogues to remove obstacles in mechanisms, policies, and procedures for enterprises when participating in FTAs that Vietnam has signed.
In addition, coordination between the Ministry of Industry and Trade and ministries, branches and localities as well as associations in propaganda activities will be strengthened. In 2024, based on the synthesis of opinions from ministries, branches and localities, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has notified ministries, branches, People's Committees of provinces and cities and associations about the propaganda plan on FTAs in 2024. This plan is built according to the Government's direction on unifying the nationwide propaganda plan on FTAs to ensure maximum efficiency in utilizing resources of central and local state management agencies as well as associations and enterprises.
How is this plan different from previous years, sir?
- In addition to regularly implemented contents such as market information and guidance on accessing FTA markets; On specific support programs for taking advantage of FTAs; On enhancing brand value for enterprises in FTA markets; Guiding commitments in FTAs; Participating in supply chains, strengthening connections with foreign enterprises, foreign-invested enterprises; Training human resources to implement FTAs, the 2024 FTA propaganda plan focuses on topics such as building an ecosystem to take advantage of FTAs; Propagating contents related to sustainable development under FTAs; Taking advantage of import sources to increase the rate of FTA utilization.
In particular, accelerate the improvement and upgrading of the Government's FTA Information Portal (FTA Portal), assigning ministries, branches and localities to coordinate more actively with the Ministry of Industry and Trade in providing and updating content and data so that the FTA Portal is truly a useful information portal for businesses, helping to connect businesses with central and local management agencies in the process of taking advantage of FTAs.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade is also presiding over and coordinating with the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Finance to unify the method of collecting statistics on investment, import and export, and investment related to FTA implementation as well as the mechanism for sharing and providing information on these data to localities. At the same time, it is presiding over and coordinating with members of the Inter-Ministerial Working Group to urgently develop a set of indicators to assess FTA implementation in localities (FTA Index) to ensure consistency and effectiveness in the implementation of FTAs in 2024 and the following years.
One of the identified difficulties in implementing FTAs is amending the legal framework to comply with the commitments. How is this being done?
- The Ministry of Industry and Trade is still accelerating the development and promulgation of documents to implement commitments in FTAs. In addition, periodically review the implementation, promptly handle difficulties and shortcomings in the implementation of these documents; Continue to review legal documents, ensuring compliance with commitments in FTAs of which Vietnam is a member. At the same time, continue to research and propose ratification of international conventions and implementation of relevant international labor standards to ensure implementation of commitments in FTAs of which Vietnam is a member.
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Agricultural products are one of the industries that take advantage of opportunities from FTAs quite well. |
Add specialized human resources to implement FTAs locally
How will business support activities be carried out effectively, sir?
- The Ministry of Industry and Trade has also had its own set of solutions on measures to support businesses to make the most of opportunities from FTAs. For example, the Ministry of Industry and Trade is taking the lead and coordinating with relevant ministries, branches, localities and industry associations to proactively build ecosystems to support businesses in taking advantage of FTAs, focusing on a number of key products in each locality. However, due to limited resources, each province and city should initially focus on identifying 1-2 key sectors or industries to build an ecosystem. If successful, it will spread to other sectors.
To support this ecosystem, central and local management agencies need to work closely together to develop policies and specific support measures suitable for selected key sectors or industries. In 2024, the Ministry of Industry and Trade plans to organize 14 consultation seminars with localities, associations and enterprises on the Ecosystem model utilizing this FTA to soon submit to the Government for consideration and approval.
In addition, there will also be a comprehensive policy to support and facilitate businesses to access and use "intra-bloc" raw materials to meet the origin criteria according to the regulations of each FTA.
According to many businesses, in order to adapt and take advantage of the commitments of FTAs, especially new generation FTAs, most of them need more capital for investment. Does the Ministry of Industry and Trade have any way to support businesses related to this issue, sir?
- One of the most effective and practical support measures for businesses that the Ministry of Industry and Trade is considering is to consider allocating a separate source of capital to support businesses to take advantage of FTAs. The Ministry of Industry and Trade will coordinate with the State Bank and relevant ministries and branches to work more specifically with commercial banks to build appropriate credit sources to support businesses that want to improve production capacity to take advantage of opportunities from FTAs. The form of support could be preferential interest rates in line with international commitments, more favorable credit access conditions, etc.
In addition, the Ministry will also proactively seek, connect and cooperate with international credit institutions under the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank or other legal financial sources to create capital to help Vietnamese enterprises carry out digital transformation and green transformation to promptly meet the increasingly high standards of export markets as well as the tastes of consumers around the world.
Sir, there have been analyses showing that the current human resources for issues related to FTA implementation are very thin. A local Department of Industry and Trade may only have one person dedicated to this task, and also take on other tasks, while the number of FTAs is large and the commitments are diverse. So what measures does the Ministry of Industry and Trade have to increase human resources to take advantage of the opportunities that FTAs bring, thereby helping businesses to be more "accurate and correct"?
- Implementing the Government's direction, the Ministry of Industry and Trade is proactively coordinating with relevant agencies to strengthen training and fostering on FTAs for management agencies, localities and enterprises to improve the effectiveness of FTA implementation. In 2024, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has been implementing training courses to become basic and advanced FTA experts for provinces, cities, business associations...
At the same time, the Ministry will also propose to add specialized human resources for implementing FTAs in localities. This is extremely necessary to improve the effectiveness of implementing FTAs in provinces and cities. This issue has been reported by the Ministry of Industry and Trade and directed by the Prime Minister.
In addition, it will also create a long-term source of human resources who understand and grasp FTAs through training at university and college levels by including FTA content in the training curriculum. However, it is necessary to pay attention to building specific and highly practical training content.
Thank you very much!
Source: https://baophapluat.vn/thu-truong-bo-cong-thuong-nguyen-sinh-nhat-tan-can-von-ho-tro-doanh-nghiep-de-tan-dung-co-hoi-tu-fta-post523701.html
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