Vietnamese Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) are facing more opportunities and challenges as Vietnam is joining the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and other free trade agreements such as Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and Regional Comprehensive Partnership Agreement (RCEF). Vietnamese SMEs should increase their competitiveness to make the best use of advantages from those agreements.
At the workshop on improving SME access to regional and global markets organised in Hanoi on September 17, Mr Hoang Quang Phong, Vice President of Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI ) said that trade liberalisation and international integration have made Vietnam an attractive destination of investments. Big investment projects of transnational groups together with the formation of ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), Vietnam-EU Free Trade Area (EVFTA) and Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) are regarded as golden opportunities for Vietnamese businesses to join regional and global supply-demand chains, expanding export markets, attracting investments and modern-technology transfers. However, together with opportunities, Vietnamese businesses, especially SMEs, are confronted with harsh competition and challenges due to low competitiveness and strategic vision, poor management skill and untrained human resources.
According to Report on Asian Development Prospect by Asian Development Bank (ADB), so far only 36 percent of Vietnamese businesses engaged in export-oriented network, compared to 60 percent in Malaysia and Thailand. Only 21 percent of Vietnamese SMEs participated in supply-demand chains, compared to 30 percent in Thailand and 46 percent in Malaysia, and most of them are at the lowest level in assembly and contract work, supplying spare parts and not yet manufacturing main products.
Mr Phong believed that for businesses to make use of those opportunities there must be joint efforts of the government and businesses. For instance, businesses need the favour of the government in drafting and enforcing laws as well as assistance. For their part, businesses should increase their competitiveness by adapting new technology, increasing product quality and management skill, developing capacity and human resources.
Emphasising the importance of Vietnamese SMEs, Vice Minister of Planning and Investment Dang Huy Dong confirmed that all ASEAN members consider SMEs an important instrument in creating jobs, increasing income, improving living conditions and serving as backbone of the economy. As the economic globalisation and integration are expanding and deepening, SMEs have great potential to contribute to the globalisation and supply-demand chains.
The Vice Minister, however, warned that as the ASEAN Economic Community is formed by the end of this year with a market of some 600 million consumers and big business community, SMEs will be under strong pressure.
The Vice Minister believed that SMEs should be duly informed of both preferential and technical barriers as well as market opportunities of FTA, so as to increase their efficiency and competitiveness in integration and sustainable development in both regional and global economy and high competitiveness in the domestic market.
Sharing the same view, Ms Nguyen Thi Tuyet Minh, Chair of Vietnam Women Entrepreneurs Council, Head of ASEAN Women Entrepreneurs Network (AWEN), confirmed that it is time for SMEs in general and those managed by women should be sure of their stand in global supply-demand chain and value chain, so that they can take the right direction for successful integration.
Thu Ha
Vietnamese
