On April 6, a workshop on coordination in action to facilitate trade was held in Vietnam by Vietnam Trade Facilitation Alliance (VTFA) incorporating with VCCI.
Vietnamese enterprises should understand and meticulously apply the stringent rules of origin, as well as the exceptions of free trade agreements, to enjoy the best from preferential taxation, as free trade does not mean "free" absolutely. The recommendation was made by Nestor Scherbey, senior adviser for the Vietnam Trade Facilitation Alliance (VTFA)
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) are considered the most complicated ever free trade agreements, requiring Vietnamese Government offices and businesses to invest time and increase their knowledge to take full advantage of these FTAs.
Herb Cochran, Executive Director of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Vietnam, said that rules of origin within FTAs open up a new investment opportunity for multinational companies as well as their suppliers in Vietnam. These companies will invest more in producing materials and intermediate goods to meet specific requirements in end-products at TPP markets and in Europe, he added.
As such, experts at the workshop emphasised the need for provincial authorities in Vietnam to establish a trade information database of FDI businesses and domestic suppliers, to help Vietnamese enterprises become FDI businesses' suppliers. They also asked for more export market surveys conducted by trade information centres to clarify foreign markets' technical requirements for businesses, especially small and medium-sized ones.
TPP is a free trade agreement between 12 countries - Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam. It aims to break down trade and investment barriers between these countries of 800 million people, which constitute 30 percent of global trade and about 40 percent of the world's economy. It was signed by economic ministers from the member nations in New Zealand on February 4.
The pact will now undergo a two-year ratification period in which at least six countries - that account for 85 percent of the 12 nations' combined gross domestic production - must approve the final text for the deal to be implemented.
Vietnam is integrating more rapidly than any other ASEAN country, except Singapore, according to Vo Tri Thanh, Deputy Director of the Centre Institute of Economic Management. He also believes that the Vietnamese economy will enter a new thriving period, marked by participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership. He urged Vietnamese to study new-generation FTAs carefully to understand rules of origin and meet technical norms to allow for participation in these markets.
Source: The Hanoitimes
Keywords: Vietnamese enterprises, to enjoy, the best, from FTAs
