Removing difficulties for cross-border export promotion activities

The conference took place in both direct and online formats, to facilitate the participation of a large number of delegates from Vietnamese Trade Offices abroad, relevant agencies and businesses from 63 provinces and cities across the country.

Speaking at the conference, Mr. Vu Ba Phu, Director of the Trade Promotion Agency, emphasized: Vietnam has a favorable geographical location and great development potential. With more than 5,000km of shared border with China, Laos and Cambodia, located in the center of Southeast Asia, Vietnam possesses many advantages and strategic conditions to expect to become a trading center in the region, becoming an important trade gateway between neighboring countries and countries in the Southeast Asian region in particular with developed economies in the world in general.

To promote trade in goods and services across the land border, the Vietnamese Government has signed Border Trade Agreements with the Governments of China, Laos, and Cambodia and in turn signed other important agreements and arrangements on quarantine, goods quality, payment, etc.

Up to now, the scale of goods exchange through all border gates along the entire land border has reached tens of billions of USD each year, contributing significantly to the growth of bilateral trade, to the socio-economic development of border provinces and especially helping to greatly improve the material and spiritual life of people in border areas.

Preliminary statistics from the General Department of Customs in 2023, Vietnam's total import-export turnover through land border gates to the three markets of China, Laos and Cambodia reached 50.38 billion USD, an increase of 52.2% compared to 2022, accounting for 27.68% of the total bilateral import-export turnover with the three markets; import-export turnover through land border gates in the first two months of 2024 was 8.44 billion, an increase of 28.5% over the same period in 2023, accounting for 28.88% of the total bilateral import-export turnover with the three markets.

However, cross-border trade still faces many difficulties. Ms. Nguyen Thi Mai Linh, Head of the Trade Facilitation Department, Import-Export Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) said that cross-border trade along the entire land border still faces many difficulties and limitations that need to be overcome. The logistics system still has some problems such as difficulties in exploiting railways with China due to the lack of synchronization in track gauge; the river system is steep, with many hidden rocks when exploiting transportation; there is no logistics center with all basic functions. Therefore, the cost of logistics services is still high, the connectivity between regions and businesses is limited.

For the border with Laos, infrastructure development, especially the construction of connecting roads to border gates and inter-district roads in some areas, is still slow and not commensurate with each other, not meeting the potential and needs of trading, exchange and circulation of goods in the border area.

According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Mai Linh, goods exported through border gates in the provinces bordering Vietnam - China are mainly agricultural products and fruits. At the same time, the number of types of agricultural products and fruits exported is also very limited compared to the potential for production and processing of agricultural products and fruits in Vietnam. In addition, some agricultural products have not signed the Protocol on quarantine, so 100% of the shipment must be physically inspected, affecting the customs clearance time.

As for the border with Laos, the production of goods is small-scale, mostly unprocessed raw materials, seasonal, unstable, the quantity of goods is small, the value is low, concentrated production areas have not been formed, standards, traceability, brand building have not been applied, and production - consumption chains have not been formed.

Regarding the border with Cambodia, Vietnam's export goods to Cambodia have a similar structure to those of Thailand and China and are subject to fierce competition in terms of quality, design and price.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Mai Linh said that most businesses operating in border trade do not prioritize choosing the official form of import and export, which is buying and selling under contracts, with clear transaction and delivery conditions, delivery at international border gates, main border gates, etc. Along with that, some secondary border gates and openings have not been restored to operation since the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, leading to many difficulties in the exchange of goods between border residents and the trading needs of businesses on both sides...

A representative of the Vietnam Trade Office Branch in Nanning (China) said that Vietnam and China are both members of the ACFTA and RCEP agreements, so most agricultural products exported to China enjoy a preferential import tax rate of 0%.

However, the border gate infrastructure and the transport infrastructure connecting to the border gate have not been developed synchronously, along with the trading habits of the owners, leading to the concentration of export goods, especially agricultural products, in certain border gate areas, potentially causing congestion risks during the peak harvest season. Along with that, the negotiation and signing of the Protocol for some types of fruit officially exported to China under the traditional trade regime is still slow, so 100% quarantine must still be carried out during the customs clearance process, reducing efficiency and increasing customs clearance time.

The representative of the Vietnam Trade Office in Nanning said that businesses need to proactively cooperate with import partners in building and promoting their corporate image and key products, in addition to mastering and meeting the quarantine and quality requirements of the Chinese market.

Along with that, enterprises need to proactively build a direct communication channel with the Trade Offices based on understanding the export needs of local enterprises. At the same time, there is effective coordination with the Trade Offices in the process of connecting foreign import enterprises with local export enterprises.

Enterprises also need to carefully study publications or product and industry handbooks developed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade to have an overview of the market, thereby building export orientations based on actual local needs. Focus on training professional staff in product marketing, especially in online trade conferences.