VINACHEM

HA NOI — Vietnamese enterprises would need to sharpen their competitive edge and work harder to capitalise on opportunities opened for them to export more to Chinese and ASEAN markets, said experts at a trade conference in Ha Noi yesterday.

The conference, entitled Opportunities for Vietnamese Exports to China and ASEAN, was jointly organised by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Viet Nam Trade Promotion Agency and Vinexad Co.

Since January 1 of this year, Vietnamese goods imported into China and ASEAN member states had enjoyed tariffs of just 0-5 per cent, noted Dao Tran Nhan, director of the ministry's Asia-Pacific department. Meanwhile, Viet Nam had not been required to reduce its own import duties to such levels for another five years, giving enterprises a temporary competitive advantage.

China remains Viet Nam's top trading partner, according to ministry statistics, and the nation's exports to China approached US$4.9 billion last year, up 8.2 per cent from a year earlier, despite the economic crisis. In the first two months of this year, exports to China totalled $1.26 billion.

Meanwhile, trade between Viet Nam and ASEAN countries reached $22.5 billlion last year, with Viet Nam importing $13.8 billion worth of goods from its ASEAN neighbours. Total trade between Viet Nam and ASEAN hit $6.1 billion in the first quarter of this year, a remarkable 37-per-cent increase over the same period last year.

Participants in yesterday's conference suggested that domestic firms could penetrate more deeply into markets such as Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines by conducting surveys and enhancing trade promotion, as well as producing higher added-value goods. — VNS