The Ministry of Industry and Trade and trade counselors overseas should work harder to seek more export markets as well as propose policies to facilitate local exporters in order to increase the country's export revenue and lessen the trade deficit, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said.
Dung made the instruction February 20 at the trade counselors' conference 2008 in Hanoi, which draws the participation of 55 Vietnamese commercial affairs aboard and many local businesses nationwide.
The PM highly appreciated the country's high export growth of 22 per cent to US$48.5 billion in the first year of its WTO accession.
However, he went to say, the export growth is still much lower than the import spending, resulting in the recorded high trade deficit of US$12.4 billion in 2007.
The country’s trade deficit is forecast to hit a new record of US$17 billion this year.
"Our export sector is currently taking advantage of only 10 per cent of opportunities," Dung told the conference. The PM urged related agencies to seek and expand the country's commodity shipments to new markets.
Vietnam's traditional export markets include Asia, accounting for 43 per cent of the country's total export turnover, American (22.4 per cent), the EU (20 per cent).
Addressing the conference, Industry and Trade Minister Vu Huy Hoang emphasized that in order to gain this year's export revenue target of US$59 billion, Vietnam's export needs to focus on IT-applied and competitive items and increase the shipments of commodities using traditional materials such as handicraft products, woodworks, rubber products, processed food, mechanical products and software services.
He also stressed that trade counselors need strengthen their role and activities in boosting trade and investment promotion, seeking and expanding overseas markets.
To date, Vietnam has established trade relations with more than 165 countries and territories and is an active member of many regional and international trade organizations. (Pioneer, VOV News)
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