50 years of ASEAN: Vietnamese businesses need to actively take advantages

	Industry 4.0 poses great challenges to ASEAN, including Vietnam
	ASEAN looks towards stronger group
	ASEAN, partner countries discuss cooperation orientations

Mr. Vu Quang Minh, Assistant to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, stated at the Conference. Photo: H. Diu

On this occasion, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has jointly organized a Conference entitled "ASEAN at 50: ASEAN Economic Community and Opportunities for Vietnamese businesses" on July 19, 2017, in Hanoi.

Statistics at the conference showed that ASEAN has become Vietnam's second trading partner with an average growth rate of 14.5% over the past decade. Two-way trade between Vietnam and ASEAN has grown from about US$ 19 billion in 2006 to US$ 41.36 billion in 2016.

As a result, ASEAN is the third largest market and also the third largest supplier of goods for Vietnamese businesses with 60% of the total imported essential goods and input raw materials for production. ASEAN is also an important source of FDI in Vietnam with a total registered capital of about US $ 64 billion and is the bridge for many investments from multinational companies located in ASEAN.

ASEAN Secretary General Le Luong Minh stated that ASEAN has implemented many initiatives to improve the investment and business environment during its establishment and development such as: Removing many tariff barriers, opening the market for services; Simplifying cross-border procedures such as: Carrying out the ASEAN Single Window Portal, Customs Single Window Portal, self-certification of origin and Signing, supporting for many Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with partners such as RCEP. "The goal of the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 is built on the basis of economic integration, such as global value chain development, investment trade, sustainable development cooperation, and so on, if holding on the growth rate, ASEAN will be one of the global major economies by 2030, " said by Mr. Le Luong Minh.

However, according to Mr. Le Luong Minh, the challenges to ASEAN were that the gap between the economies was still large, the most developed country had GDP 43 times higher times than the least developed country; the legal system between economics was still different; the awareness of people and businesses was improved but still limited; Some developed countries were being affected by the aging population, but others were affected by the middle-income trap. In addition, ASEAN suffered from many non-traditional threats such as migration, terrorism, and protectionism.

Speaking about the impact of AEC in Vietnam, the representative of Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) said, some surveys showed that only about 16% of enterprises actually understand the AEC.

“Businesses only take advantages of the AEC when they actually join the ASEAN market and become real players in the market. Businesses are not only the beneficiaries but also the participants who set the rules and take the initiative to pay attention to and play a greater role in shaping ASEAN and AEC for their benefits of themselves. The representative of ERIA recommended.

Facing this situation, Mr. Vu Quang Minh, Assistant Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, affirmed that the Government will continue to innovate and reform the economy to help businesses operate smoothly and effectively take advantages from ASEAN incentives. "Vietnam, as well as ASEAN member countries, are sharing the advantages to make ASEAN become a" growth center "of the world economy, a center of the production network of Southeast Asia and Pacific. Therefore, the Government will always accompany to solve the difficulties for businesses but success comes only to the businesses who are aware of the opportunities and seize those opportunities, " underlined by Vu Quang Minh.

At the conference, delegates and businesses shared about the impacts, opportunities, and challenges of AEC that Vietnamese economy is facing. Businesses have realized the Government's efforts in supporting businesses but still require more reforms on institutions, administrative procedures, infrastructure and human resource training.

In addition, AEC will give businesses more opportunities on creativity, start-up, and enhancement of business capacity, especially small, medium and small businesses. So that experts proposed that competent authorities should issue solutions to help these businesses in Vietnam deeply involved in the regional and global value chain.

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On this occasion, the leaders of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs granted the ASEAN 50th Anniversary Logo for national and international experts and Vietnamese excellent businesses.