“Covid-19 has given e-commerce a push,” said Nguyen Thuy Anh from the Department of E-commerce and Digital Economy.

Rules of origin in international trade is like a passport required for travel overseas. These are used to determine the “nationality” of goods traded in the global market place. Yet, ironically no internationally agreed-upon rules of origin exist.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Quoc Khanh emphasised: ".... If you want a good harvest, you have to get up early to go to the fields.”

Australia needs to think about how to strengthen relations in the region so it benefits from trade in a COVID-19 world, says Professor Heng Wang, co-director of UNSW Law’s China International Business and Economic Law (CIBEL) Centre.

On June 30, the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (EuroCham) and the Prime Minister’s Advisory Council for Administrative Procedure Reform (ACAPR) co-organized a special dialogue in Hanoi.

WTO members have discussed a possible Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Declaration for the WTO’s 12th Ministerial Conference next year which would address the growing pressures on international agri-food production and trade.

The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated in G20 countries a trend towards policies designed to safeguard national security interests against threats associated with international investment, according to a joint report launched by UNCTAD, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) on 29 June.

China is expressing an interest in joining the updated Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade agreement, which was originally designed as the centrepiece of the Obama administration’s ‘pivot to Asia’, intended to cement a non-Chinese Asian regional group.

ASEAN nations should reevaluate its economy post-pandemic to one that is more resilient, digitally enabled, inclusive and sustainable, says the regional bloc secretary general Datuk Lim Jock Hoi.

The lifting of the European Commission (EC) yellow card over illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing is very important for Vietnam to regain prestige in the international arena.