Closer Co-operation with Counsellors Offers Good Opportunities

Closer Co-operation with Counsellors Offers Good Opportunities

A meeting between Hanoi, the Ministry of Trade and Vietnamese trade counsellors in foreign countries was held on March 3. The event has opened up new opportunities for Vietnamese enterprises, in particular enterprises in Hanoi to promote their import and export activities.

Nguyen Manh Hoang, director of the Hanoi Department of Trade, said that Hanoi had great potential for export. In 2004, total export turnover of the capital city reached US$2.164 billion, up by 19 per cent over 2003. This was the highest figure since 2001. Export growth rate of 26.2 per cent of Hanoi’s enterprises was higher than that of Ho Chi Minh City (12.8 per cent), Da Nang (10 per cent) and Haiphong (2.4 per cent) was lower than only that of Binh Duong (39.8 per cent). Hanoi’s import value was put at US$8.118 billion, up by 18.8 per cent against that of 2003. The city’s main imports include equipment, machines, materials and fuel. Hanoi’s export structure has seen a progress with an increase in contribution of industrial and processed products. The contribution of industrial products and handicrafts increased from 41.4 per cent in 2001 to 47.6 per cent in 2003 and 52 per cent in 2004. The proportion of agro-produce reduced from 31.8 per cent in 2001 to 23.9 per cent in 2003 and 23.3 per cent in 2004.

Hanoi’s enterprises maintained their major markets, including the EU, the US and Japan, while promoting their entry to new markets, such as African countries, and restoring their presence in traditional markets, including Russia and other countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). However, Hoang stressed that the capital city’s trade deficit remained huge. Hanoi’s import and export activities have shown constraints with slow restructuring in exports and markets. Major exports, including textiles and garments, and electronics products, are mainly made under subcontracts with a low localisation proportion. As a result, added value from export remains low. At the same time, exports with high added value, such as handicrafts, processed food and mechanical products, mabe a small contribution (around 10 per cent). Trade promotion activities have yet to become effective.  Furthermore, there is a lack of information, in particular market orientation information from State management agencies, resulting in poor impact and boost for export restructuring and export value’s growth. At the meeting, Nguyen The Quang, vice chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee, proposed that trade counsellors provide further support and assistance for the city’s authorities, apart from their efforts to attract more foreign investment and internal strength to develop infrastructure facilities. Counsellors may provide information about investment, making links between local enterprises and foreign partners to seek concrete transactions as current virtual transactions provide false information, causing trouble to Vietnamese enterprises.

Nguyen Huu Thang, general director of the Hanoi Trade Corporation, said that his corporation wished to promote co-operation with counsellors in promoting export markets under concrete, long-term strategies. The Hanoi Trade Corporation wants counsellors to help it promote its image and trademarks of agro-produce, textiles and garments in each country. In particular, via counsellors, the corporation will have more relations to act as focal points to promote its export activities in foreign countries. Le Quoc Khanh, deputy general director of the Vietnam Coal Import and Export Joint stock Company, said that his company’s import and export turnover was expected to reach US$200 million in 2005 with US$130 million from exporting coal and US$15 million exporting labour. Total import value is estimated at US$55 million. To that end, the company wishes to receive support and assistance from trade counsellors in terms of information about markets and policies of foreign countries. Most enterprises in Hanoi in particular and in Vietnam in general said that they lacked information and financial resources for trade promotion activities in foreign countries.

The Hanoi Department of Trade has worked out some contents for promoting the co-operation between Hanoi and trade counsellors in foreign countries in the coming time. Hoang said that the two sides should maintain their information exchange each quarter, six months, and annually in various forms. Trade counsellors will provide information about goods, markets and market shares of Vietnamese-made goods, and forecast reports about possibility of Vietnamese exported goods, law, trade customs, and import and export procedures, lists of distributors for the goods produced by the various Vietnamese enterprises. The Hanoi Department of Trade will act as recipient of information provided by counsellors. A closer co-operation between the department and counsellors will benefit local producers and exporters.

• Kim Phuong