Efforts underway to boost trade with UK
Efforts underway to boost trade with UK
Both capital and production technology of domestic enterprises remain modest, it is necessary to connect resources in order to help businesses efficiently take advantage of the UK-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (UKVFTA), said Ngo Chung Khanh, Deputy Director of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s (MoIT) Multilateral Trade Policy Department in a talk with Vietnam Economic News’ Hoa Quynh.
Ngo Chung Khanh, Deputy Director of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Multilateral Trade Policy Department |
What is your assessment of the UKVFTA’s impact on UK-Vietnam trade?
We have seen that the UKVFTA has benefited both sides. The UK’s exports to Vietnam are increasing significantly, helping to balance the bilateral trade and at the same time enabling Vietnamese manufacturers to make use of more UK sources of raw materials, technologies and products to improve production capacity.
Vietnamese enterprises export coffee, pepper, vegetables, garments, and footwear to the UK, achieving growth of almost 100 percent and implementing market diversification strategies.
To what standards and practices should Vietnamese exporters pay attention in trade with the UK?
In addition to preferential tariffs under the UKVFTA, other advantages for exports to the UK are related to that market’s diversification of supply sources. However, the UK’s high standards and different thinking about environmental and labor issues are factors to which businesses need to pay attention. The UK has a traditional relationship with its former colonial countries, India and Pakistan for example, which compete with Vietnam’s strong products, such as rice.
Despite certain difficulties, the UK is a high-potential market for Vietnamese exports. However, many Vietnamese exporters are not confident of entering a new market with strict standards and barriers like the UK, hampering achievement of Vietnam’s targets related to the UKVFTA. While both capital and production technology of domestic enterprises remain modest, it is necessary to connect resources in order to help businesses efficiently take advantage of the UKVFTA.
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What will the Ministry of Industry and Trade do to help enterprises take advantage of the UKVFTA?
The relevant authority needs to replicate successful export models and implement market access sharing programs for businesses in order to maintain export growth to the UK.
Based on the experience of UKVFTA implementation since May 2021, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will work with localities and sectors to promote the agreement in accordance with the actual needs of enterprises. The ministry will build and operate an FTA portal to increase regular interaction with businesses.
We expect that local authorities will have a stronger involvement in the UKVFTA implementation. The government recently approved a project to evaluate FTA implementation efficiency in localities, which is expected to boost local authorities’ activity in accompanying enterprises’ FTA exploitation.
