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Duty-free shopping laws amended
Duty-free shops in special economic zones on the Vietnam-Cambodia border received a welcome reprieve on Wednesday, with Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung approving an extension of the old duty-free shopping laws.
Under the decision, supermarkets and stores at border economic zones will be allowed to sell duty-free products to both domestic and foreign visitors for three more years.
An earlier government decision meant that from July 1, Vietnamese passport-holders were not allowed to buy any duty-free goods in the border economic zones, set up to boost infrastructure investment and trade in border areas.
In the wake of the July 1 rule change, most duty-free shops in Moc Bai economic zone in southern Tay Ninh Province and all duty-free retailers in the Tinh Bien Border in southern An Giang Province shut their doors because of a lack of customers.
In related news, Prime Minister Dung last week approved a master plan to build a super economic zone extending through 10 provinces that border Cambodia.
Under the plan, border areas in four Central Highlands and six southern provinces will be developed into an economic zone by 2020.
The border economic zone will extend through the provinces of Gia Lai, Kon Tum, Dac Lak, Dak Nong, Binh Phuoc, Tay Ninh, Long An, Dong Thap, An Giang and Kien Giang.
Under the economic zone plan, the border areas of these provinces will become key entry points for trade, services and cargo traveling from the East Sea to the Greater Mekong Sub Region nations - Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.
Thuy Hang
vietnews
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