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Officials urge more EU trade
Viet Nam and the EU should hasten negotiations for a Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) as well as a Free Trade Agreement (FTA), officials said at a seminar on Tuesday.
This would enable Vietnamese enterprises need to increase trade and investment activities in the EU market and help Viet Nam broaden and deepen strategic relations with the bloc as well.
Officials from the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), the Trade Counselor of the European Union Delegation and the European Commission discussed solutions to help Vietnamese enterprises strengthen their exports to the huge market.
Nguyen Canh Cuong, Deputy Head of the MoIT's European Market Department said the Vietnamese Government needs to quickly complete a legal framework to create more chances for domestic exporters.
"Besides, it should organise the national trade promotion programmes in EU member nations. Trade departments at the Vietnamese embassies' in EU countries need to consult with domestic exporters about ways to overcome difficulties such as regulations and technical barriers (To entering the EU market)," he said.
Domestic exporters, on the other hand, need to modernise and renovate their management and production operations to increase productivity and quality, Cuong said.
Export products should also meet the technical standards and foodstuff safety and hygiene requirements of this market, he added.
He advised exporters to diversify their products to increase their competitive capacity. They needed to intensify cooperation with EU manufacturers, designers and distributors to popularise and market their products, he said.
"Environmentally-friendly and reasonably priced products are favoured by the EU consumers currently," he noted.
The textile and garment, seafood, rubber and plastics industries had the potential to increase their presence in the EU market, he said.
Anti-dumping duties imposed on leather upper shoes would make it difficult for the footwear industry to do well in the market, he predicted.
Le Ky Anh, an official of the European Union Delegation of the European Commission said the multilingual http://exporthelp.europa.eu website, could provide exporters including Vietnamese enterprises access, updated information about laws, tariffs and import regulations.
It would also help exporters find trade partners and contacts in the EU, he added.
Antonio Berengue, trade counselor of the EU delegation to Viet Nam said "the EU has traditionally been the first export market for Viet Nam until 2004 when overtaken by the US."
Today, the EU is the second largest trading partner of Viet Nam with two-way trade of US$14.8 billion last year.
Vo Tan Thanh, Director of the HCM City chapter of the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said: "As ASEAN Chairman in 2010, Viet Nam is regarded as a bridge between the EU and the ASEAN countries, thus it is an ideal time to intensify economic and commercial relations of between Viet Nam and the EU."
The EU is a huge market with 27 countries and a population of nearly 500 million. The bloc had a combined GDP of $18 trillion in 2008, accounting for 27 per cent of the global GDP.
Despite the global economic crisis, two-way turnover between Viet Nam and the EU reached $14.8 billion. Viet Nam exported rubber, handicrafts, seafood, coffee, leather shoes, pepper, and tea to the EU and imported machine, steel, fertilisers and medicines.
The seminar was organised by the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the European Chamber of Commerce in Viet Nam.
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