The conference was attended by Ms. Phan Thi Thang - Member of the Southeast Regional Coordination Council, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade; Mr. Nguyen Van Danh - Vice Chairman of Binh Duong PPC; Mr. Tran Van Mi - Vice Chairman of Binh Phuoc PPC.
The Southeast region accounted for more than 32% of the country's trade
Possessing outstanding natural potential and advantages, strategic economic-political geographical location connecting the Southern economic regions and the whole Viet Nam with ASEAN countries, as well as the world, the Southeast region assumes the role of economic leader, the largest trade, industry, tourism, and service development center in the country, becoming an ideal destination for foreign investors. At the same time, it is a potential area for the process of shifting and restructuring the supply chain, creating opportunities for Vietnamese enterprises to participate in the global production network. It also leads in integration, industrial and trade development, and investment attraction, with many large-scale, high-tech projects, creating branded products.
In the past 11 months, in the context of economic difficulties and challenges, the local import-export turnover in the Southeast region reached more than 200 billion USD, accounting for nearly 32.4% of Viet Nam's trade. Ho Chi Minh City maintains the highest total import-export turnover in the country, reaching nearly 89 billion USD. The two provinces of Binh Duong's and Dong Nai's are 47.7 billion USD and 34 billion USD, respectively.
Delegates attend the Conference
Although growth is not high over the same period, the large scale of exports has contributed to maintaining the Southeast region's position in leading the region's export activities, present in nearly 200 countries and territories.
Ms. Phan Thi Thang - Member of the Southeastern Regional Coordination Council, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade speaks at the Conference
According to forecasts, exports in the coming time will still face shared challenges from the decline of traditional markets and export partners, because global consumption has not shown signs of recovery as expected. Ms. Phan Thi Thang - Member of the Southeastern Regional Coordination Council, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade said: "The Ministry of Industry and Trade will continue to accompany and coordinate closely with local authorities, support enterprises of provinces and cities in the Southeast region to develop export markets, promote the consumption of advantage products and goods of the Region in the domestic and export markets, take advantage of opportunities to promote the brands and trademarks of key local and regional products, support increased cooperation with domestic and international partners to contribute to promoting trade development, thereby contributing to promoting the socio-economic development of the Region."
Mr. Nguyen Van Danh - Vice Chairman of Binh Duong PPC speaks at the Conference
Mr. Nguyen Van Danh - Vice Chairman of Binh Duong PPC said: "The Conference is an opportunity for enterprises and entrepreneurs in the Southeast region in particular, domestic and foreign in general, to have the opportunity to meet, interact, exchange cooperation, share experiences and promote export promotion to international markets such as European countries, the United States, China, ASEAN, etc. Thereby opening many doors of opportunity to promote economic development of the Region in particular and localities in general; helping enterprises and units attending the conference find new partners, sign contracts and investment cooperation agreements. At the same time, the conference also opens doors of opportunity to diversify markets and export products, contributing to promoting the development of the Southeast region into a dynamic region with a high economic growth rate".
Strengthen and promote regional connectivity
At the Conference, delegates focused on exchanging and discussing solutions to strengthen the connection of subjects of the import-export ecosystem, promote production links, connect import and export partners, introduce the potential and strengths of the Southeast region, promote the image and brand of local industries and products in the Region. They also shared market information, international trade trends, export opportunities, supporting enterprises to effectively exploit the Free Trade Agreements that our country has signed to develop products, diversify the supply chain market, promote export and import.
Delegates participate in discussions at the Conference
To participate in promotion activities effectively and diversely in the international arena, Mr. Vu Ba Phu - Director of Viet Nam Trade Promotion Agency, Ministry of Industry and Trade said: "The People's Committees of the provinces, departments, committees and branches of the Southeast region need to pay more attention to and prioritize resources for trade promotion. We must proactively grasp the needs of enterprises in the Region as well as the world market developments, to build trade promotion programs with strong links within the Region and with other economic regions of the country. The purpose is to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the programs. We should actively create conditions and organize enterprise delegations of the Region to participate in national and international trade promotion programs as well as prioritize export promotion activities for strong and high value-added products of the Region."
Mr. Vu Ba Phu - Director of Viet Nam Trade Promotion Agency, Ministry of Industry and Trade speaks at the Conference
Moreover, according to Mr. Vu Ba Phu, to effectively deploy and utilize trade promotion solutions towards sustainable exports, enterprises in the Region need to increase their proactiveness in finding information, policy mechanisms, market research, partner appraisal, focusing on new trends in the world market to find suitable directions (such as green, clean, environmentally friendly products, etc.), taking advantage of opportunities from these trends in addition to important opportunities from new generation FTAs. They should invest in product development, focus on product groups in the world market that tend to prioritize consumption in the context of a highly unstable world economy, i.e., tightening monetary policies of countries continue to be applied, foreign trade protection barriers are becoming more sophisticated. One more thing is to improve and control product quality, improve capacity to meet the increasingly strict requirements of markets around the world in terms of quality, food hygiene and safety, traceability, and non-tariff barriers.
Promoting the role of regional connectivity to increase competitiveness for export supplies from the Southeast region, Mr. Nguyen Nguyen Phuong - Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Industry and Trade emphasized the significant role of regional connectivity, especially in the field of transportation. Localities need to organize provincial planning well in association with regional planning, focusing on traffic connections to support the transportation of goods, reducing transportation time and costs for enterprises.
The Conference combines to organize a display area for typical products of localities in the Southeast region to support product promotion and trade connections for enterprises in the Region
Speaking online from a Japanese bridge point, Mr. Ta Duc Minh - Commercial Counselor, Viet Nam Trade Office in Japan recommended that export enterprises needed to ensure product quality; ensure stability in selling prices and supply output because the Japanese market had high standards and was difficult to enter. However, once we can enter that market, it will a be stable and long-lasting process. Mr. Ta Duc Minh suggested cooperating with Japanese partners to improve design and models to suit Japanese tastes, focusing on propaganda and promoting products and brands, building websites, making catalogs in both English and Japanese. We should also learn and make good use of tax and origin incentives in FTAs; enlisting the support of relevant ministries, branches, agencies and organizations (Ministry of Industry and Trade, Viet Nam Trade Promotion Agency, Foreign Markets Department, Trade office in foreign countries, etc.); actively participating in face-to-face and online trade connection seminars; participating in trade promotion delegations at major international fairs and exhibitions abroad in many fields such as food, household goods, construction materials, supporting industrial products, etc. Vietnamese export enterprises when doing business with Japanese partners should not just simply buy and sell but should also continue to monitor and control how their products are received by the market and how customers respond to avoid unnecessary risks, thereby ensuring the reputation of their product brand.