ASEAN representatives at the 24th ASEAN Economic Ministers’ Retreat (Photo: AFP/ VNA)

On the sideline of the 24th ASEAN Economic Ministers’ Retreat (AEM Retreat 24), in Singapore on Friday, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Quoc Khanh said Vietnam is among the leading nations in implementing the commitments to the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). According to him, Vietnam has collaborated with other ASEAN countries in finalizing the Trade Facilitation Index (TFI). On this basis, ASEAN will give recommendations to each nation on measures to be improved to reach the goals of reducing 10 percent in trade costs by 2020 and doubling the intra-bloc trade value by 2025.

Vietnam has also proactively implemented the initiative on the ASEAN Wide Self-Certification, which aims to replace two other pilot mechanisms on self-certification.

The  initiative will help Vietnamese entrepreneurs self–certify their products to ship to nine other ASEAN nations rather than to several ones, which helps save them time, costs, and resources.