(VOVworld)- Export plays an increasingly important role in Vietnam’s economic growth due to Vietnam’s signing of a series of bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements. Trade counselors have been urged to boost exports and promote Vietnamese products abroad.
In the last 2 years, Vietnam’s overseas trade offices have carried out 600 trade promotion activities and given more attention to promoting the export of Vietnamese products.
Strengthening connectivity between enterprises and overseas Vietnamese trade offices
Vietnamese trade offices in Europe, Japan, and the Republic of Korea have worked closely with agencies in host countries to promote Vietnamese products in local distribution networks. They have organized festivals and campaigns to promote Vietnamese goods on a regular basis. Tran Duc Viet, Deputy Director of the Garment 10 Company, says Vietnamese enterprises need to work more closely with overseas Vietnamese trade offices to gather information about markets, prices, consumer demand, and buying habits: “We have worked with trade offices in the US, Europe, and Japan, where our products are already being sold and the trade office in the Republic of Korea to introduce our requirements. Trade offices need more contacts and seminars and need to assign staff to be in charge of specific sectors to help enterprises gather better information about individual markets”
Nguyen Trung Dung, Vietnamese Trade Counselor in Japan, urged trade offices to be more proactive in researching, negotiating, and promoting trade activities: “We need to increase connectivity between enterprises and trade offices. Last year, we managed to connect Vietnamese and Japanese localities to mobilize resources from Japanese small and medium-sized enterprises. We encouraged trade associations and enterprises in both countries to strengthen cooperation”.
Trade counselors accompany enterprises in integration
Vietnamese trade counselors are playing a more important role in helping Vietnamese enterprises take advantage of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. Vietnam earns more than 11 billion USD annually from its export to the US, of which garments and textiles account for more than half. In 2018 when Vietnam begins implementing the TPP, it expects to save 1.68 billion USD in garment taxes and 445 million USD in footwear taxes. In that context, trade counselors are urged to do more to help Vietnamese enterprises obtain information about markets, opportunities and challenges during global economic integration. Vietnamese Trade Counselor in the US Mr. Dao Tran Nhan said: “Trade offices in the US and other countries have already helped Vietnamese enterprises integrate into the world economy. But Vietnamese enterprises need to be aware that trade offices cannot help them to do everything. Vietnamese enterprises need to improve their product quality first before seeking help from trade offices”.
Participating in trade agreements, Vietnamese enterprises will face with a number of trade barriers including dumping lawsuits. That’s why they need trade counselors to provide them with information about export markets and preferential policies for Vietnamese enterprises, and legal consultancy in signing contracts and vetting partners. Nguyen Thi Hong is Vice Chairwoman of the Ho Chi Minh Municipal People’s Committee: “The Ministry of Industry and Trade needs to provide localities with information concerning expanding exports and attracting foreign investment. Vietnamese trade promotion agencies need trade counselors to update them with market forecasts and host countries’ investment regulations on Vietnamese enterprises”.
Improving product quality, investing in advertising, participating in trade fairs, and cooperating with host countries’ agencies to promote their products are what Vietnamese enterprises need to do with respect to their international integration. Trade counselors can help them become better known in the world market.