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Officials of Binh Duong General Port Border Gate Customs Sub-Department, Binh Duong Customs Department supervise goods at the port. Photo: T.D

Maintaining a leading position

Sharing with reporters on the sidelines of the Conference on Trade Promotion - Expanding import-export markets in the Southeast region that took place recently, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Phan Thi Thang said that recently, the Southeast region became a key economic region of the country, taking the lead in integration, industrial development, trade and investment attraction, with many large-scale, high-tech projects, creating branded products. The Southeast was an ideal destination for foreign investors, a potential area for shifting and restructuring the supply chain, creating opportunities for Vietnamese enterprises to join the global production network.

​Statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Trade show that, in the first 11 months of 2023, in an economic context with many difficulties and challenges, the import-export turnover of local goods in the Southeast region reached more than US$ 200.5 billion, accounting for nearly 32.4% of Vietnam's trade. Of which, Ho Chi Minh City maintained the highest total import-export turnover in the country, reaching nearly US$ 89 billion, the two provinces of Binh Duong and Dong Nai both recorded high import-export turnover of over US$ 30 billion with US$ 47.7 billion and 34 billion USD respectively.

According to Ms. Phan Thi Thang, although there was no growth over the same period in 2023, the large scale of exports contributed to maintaining the position of the Southeast region in leading export activities. Exported goods from the Southeast region were present in nearly 200 countries and territories. In particular, they were mainly on traditional markets, especially markets where Vietnam had free trade agreements such as the United States, China, EU, Japan, Korea, ASEAN...

However, to promote exports to the Southeast region, according to Deputy Minister Phan Thi Thang, each region and each development model should have different ways to promote trade and expand markets. In each region, there were specific products that need to be taken care of. The Southeast not only had advantages in agriculture, forestry and fisheries, but also had strengths in industrial products. Accordingly, the Southeast provinces should carefully study the free trade agreements that Vietnam had signed, Resolution 24-NQ/TW of the Politburo on socio-economic development of the Southeast region and the region's internal advantages to seek opportunities. The Southeast region not only exported regional products but could also export raw materials and products from all other regions in the country and bring them here for processing.

Supporting enterprises to expand their markets

Mr. Vu Ba Phu, Director of the Trade Promotion Department, Ministry of Industry and Trade, said that in recent times there were many activities to support enterprises in Vietnamese localities in general and enterprises in the Southeast region in particular access and develop foreign markets. In the coming time, the Ministry of Industry and Trade would continue to accompany and coordinate closely with localities, supporting enterprises in provinces and cities in the Southeast region to develop export markets and promote consumption of goods. with regional strengths in the domestic market; take advantage of opportunities to promote brands of key local products; support increased cooperation with both domestic and international partners to contribute to promoting trade development, thereby contributing to promoting the region's socio-economic development.

​According to Mr. Nguyen Nguyen Phuong, Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Industry and Trade, the connection had a great impact on the competitiveness of the entire region, promoting the expansion of import-export markets for goods of the Southeast. Previously, when there was no Resolution 24 of the Politburo on the Southeast, the region's export of goods faced many difficulties. Even provinces and cities competed internally with each other. After Resolution 24 was issued, the Southeast Regional Council worked continuously in many localities, in many different fields, helping to recognize and come up with solutions to overcome weaknesses.

On the other hand, according to Mr. Nguyen Nguyen Phuong, there were currently nearly 2,000 representative offices of countries and trade associations such as AmCham, EuroCham... located in the Southeast. Ho Chi Minh City had approached and had initial results. The remaining provinces and cities hadnot exploited the "gold mine" effectively to expand the import-export market.

Besides, FTA agreements have been creating conditions to increase exports for Vietnamese enterprises. However, according to experts, in order to improve competitiveness and take full advantage of the FTAs that Vietnam had signed, domestic enterprises should comply with strict environmental standards and meet the tastes of green consumption and green export. Therefore, many localities in the region were increasingly paying attention to this issue.

Vice Chairman of Dong Nai Import-Export Association Nguyen Duy Hung said that to expand export markets, localities, functional branches and enterprises in the Southeast region themselves must have plans to train on green standards to meet the requirements of many markets. Because in reality, many markets now had higher requirements for imported products. For example, the European market was increasingly demanding imported products. Green and sustainable product lines would be chosen more.

​Ms. Nga Dang, co-founder of Vietnam Food Europe BV (Netherlands) recommended that green production was a requirement of many large markets in the world, so Vietnamese enterprises should focus on shifting production and services in a "green" direction, taking advantage of strengthens to promote and enhance brand value. In particular, green enterprises would have many opportunities to export goods, expand market share, and develop stably in demanding markets like Europe. With such requirements, enterprises should temporarily stop producing products with large emissions and environmental pollution and replace them with friendly, energy-saving product lines.