Hien, in the recent interview given to Thoi bao Kinh te Vietnam, said that Vietnam has opened five commercial affairs agencies in the Middle East, including in Kuwait, Iran, Turkey, UAE and Iraq, while the network of trade representatives in Africa remains too thin with just five agencies in 54 countries.
“Five trade representatives prove to be too few if compared to the bigger potential of the market. Therefore, the Ministry of Industry and Trade is considering opening some more commercial affairs agencies in the region,” Hien said.
He added that the Government has recently decided to assign the MOIT to draw up the plan to open commercial affairs agencies in Ghana and Tanzania.
When talking about the opportunities to do business in the Middle East and Africa, Hien said that businesses should be brave with doing business in the markets where there are a lot of challenges.
“We have set up the plan to promote exports to Africa. In 2008, the Government chose the Middle East as the new key market for trade promotion activities. In 2009, the MOIT has decided that Africa will be the new market worth of much attention, no matter if the Government chooses Africa as the key market or not,” Hien said.
He went on to say that his department has joined forces with the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (Vietrade) to build up the national promotion programs, under which delegations of businesses will be sent to Africa to establish and develop trade ties with some countries. The main markets in Africa are South Africa, the leading economy in the region, West Africa and East Africa.
In fact, Vietnam’s exports to Africa prove to be lower than to other markets like America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Two reasons have been cited to explain this, being the long distance between Vietnam and Africa, and the lack of information about partners.
The payment capability also remains a problem in the trade between Vietnam and Africa. However, Hien believes that Vietnamese businesses are creative enough to find out the solutions to the problem.
Vietnamese enterprises have been exporting to Africa under different channels, including direct export, export via the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), or production and export on the spot.
A Vietnamese tobacco factory has been reportedly trying to make procedures to produce and sell tobacco in the country. This method allows taking full advantage of the cheap labour in the country, and materials, while allowing the selling of products in the market. Besides, Vietnamese companies can take full advantage of the GSP Generalized System of Preferences to export the products to Europe and America.
In 2008, the Middle East is chosen as the key market for trade promotion activities. It is expected that in 2008, Vietnam’s exports to the market will increase by 30% over 2007. Vietnam has become the country which has trade surplus in the trade with the region.
Source: TBKTVN
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