Pham Thi Cam Anh
Nguyen Huong Giang
Keywords: New-generation FTAs, commitment, Utilization
Abstract:
Vietnam has established trade relations with more than 200 countries and territories around the world; participating in the negotiation and signing of many Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), including new generation FTAs. The signing and participation in FTAs in general and new-generation FTAs in particular have had a strong impact on Vietnam’s economic growth in many aspects. New generation FTAs such as CPTPP, EVFTA, RCEP with deeper commitments on investment, trade in services, labor and environmental issues have brought various opportunities to Vietnam’s enterprises. However, the most benefit that firms derive from preferential agreements are still tariff preferences, although most businesses believe that next-generation FTAs has little meaning in terms of opening up to trade in goods. Many businesses themselves do not really know what benefits the new-generation FTA , and they intentionally do not take advantage of incentives from these FTAs. Improving understanding and knowledge about commitments plays an important role to accelerate global integration of businesses. Academic institutions are key drivers of promoting the process of spreading such knowledge. In order to carry out effectively this connection responsibility, academic institutions need to step up the review and adjustment of training programs in a flexible direction, targeting multiple job positions. At the same time, institutions also need to build a specific ecosystem for each program, aiming to build professional and practical community connections for learners. In addition, it is necessary to focus on building advanced research centers to coordinate implementation, create and spread new knowledge in the form of reports, seminars, intensive training to improve capacity. The case study of Quang Ninh shows that FTA utilization is reflected in the proportion of enterprises taking advantage of the C/O form increasing from 10% to 50-70% in 2021 thanks to the initiative in digital transformation of the company. State agencies facilitate ICT application, helping to reduce document processing time significantly. In addition, Quang Ninh also encourages businesses to promote export activities through e-commerce platforms, applying 4.0 technology in trade promotion.
Policy Brief 02 (full): Policy brief 02_Thichung
