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Firms must make use of opportunities from the EVFTA

11/07/2020    43

In nearly a month, the Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) will take effect. However, information shared by the leader of the Multilateral Trade Policy Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) at the conference “Effectively taking full advantage of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA): Development opportunities for Vietnamese firms after the Covid-19 shock" was attractive.

 Accordingly, different from other FTAs, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has prepared and started carefully to run the EVFTA. The publicity of the EVFTA has been deployed diversely by the Ministry of Industry and Trade via not only offline conferences and training but also using online training. The Ministry of Industry and Trade has set up a Zalo group to connect ministries,sectors, provinces, cities and localities.

Contrary to this effective deployment, the attention of businesses with the EVFTA is still limited. Evidence presented by the leader of the Multilateral Trade Policy Department is the Ministry of Industry and Trade has organised an online training course on three contents, including tax and market access, rules of origin and investment services. The number of registered businesses is insignificant. For for the content on market access and tax, registrantsare mainly students.

The ignorance of enterprises for big agreements as the EVFTA or the CPTTP is not new. The CPTPP took effect onJanuary 14, 2019. In areport of the Ministry of Industry and Trade submitted to the National Assembly in May 2020, the ministry frankly stated only 40% of provinces and cities have import and export activities with CPTPP countries. Notably, the number of enterprises paying attention to exports to CPTPP countries is insignificant.

According to a survey conducted by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), about 86% of enterprises haveknown or studied about the CPTPP. However, only 1.86% of firmshavepaid attention tothe agreement. The Ministry of Industry and Trade said that in fact, enterprises, especially small and medium enterprises,have not yet met requirements of the CPTTP. Many firms, including big firms, for example textile firms, have not yet paid attention tothe production of raw materials to meet the agreement's rules of origin.

The negotiation and signing to the implementation of new FTAs is a long process with great efforts andthe State has invested in human resource and finances. However, if enterprises do not try to overcome internal weaknesses to get opportunities, all their efforts may bemeaningless.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Quoc Khanh, head of the Government Negotiation Delegation on Economics and International Trade, said that to make opportunities from the EVFTA come to fruition, the Government and businesses have lots ofwork to prepare. For businesses, it is necessary to study the contents of the agreement, fully prepare human resources, finances and other necessary conditions to meet requirements not only of the agreement but also of the EU market.“Businesses need to increase their activeness; do not let foreign enterprises make use of opportunities.”If wanting to get big profits, enterprises must have good preparation.

Source: VN Explorer