Local firms must meet requirements on goods origins: Expert
Local firms must meet requirements on goods origins: Expert
Vietnamese exporters must meet strict requirements on product origins and traceability if they want to benefit from the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), stated Vu Duc Giang, chairman of the Vietnam Textile and Garment Association.
At a conference called “EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement---a new horizon for extensive and comprehensive cooperation,” jointly held by the EU Delegation to Vietnam and the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (Eurocham) in HCMC on July 30, Giang said local firms should use locally made materials for their products.
Textile and garment firms, for instance, are required to use locally produced fabrics for their products to be entitled to tax incentives in EU countries. However, the sector is currently dependent on imported materials.
To combat this, the sector is striving to enhance investment in production facilities.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, apparel, footwear, mobile phones, computers and farm produce are Vietnam’s key export items.
Speaking at the conference, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Hoang Quoc Vuong pointed out that the cooperation of the Government, associations and enterprises as well as consultancy services from economic experts are necessary to utilize incentives provided by the EVFTA.
He noted that bilateral trade between Vietnam and the bloc had surged from US$4.1 billion in 2000 to US$55.8 billion in 2018, of which US$41.9 billion came from Vietnam’s exports.
As of June, 27 EU countries had invested US$53.1 billion in more than 3,200 projects in Vietnam. Thus, the European Union is an important trade partner of and investor in Vietnam, Vuong added.
Miriam Garcia Ferrer, head of the Economics and Trade Section of the EU delegation to Vietnam, remarked that the EVFTA will open up more opportunities for cooperation between Vietnam and the European Union. The bloc is now Vietnam’s second-largest import market and fifth-largest investor.
The EVFTA will bring both opportunities and challenges for small and medium-d enterprises. They must meet requirements on production, laborers and goods origins. Agricultural product processing firms will have to work harder to popularize their products among European consumers.
For her part, Nguyen Son Tra, deputy head of the WTO and Trade Negotiation Division, under the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Multilateral Trade Policy Department, stressed that Vietnamese enterprises should be more proactive in learning about the EVFTA and improving their product quality to utilize available opportunities.
