Local firms worry about lack of technical barriers

HCMC – The day when import tariffs on several items are cut to zero in line with trade agreements between Vietnam and ASEAN countries is coming nearer, but technical barriers have yet to be erected, causing great anxiety among local producers.
At the review conference on first-half performance of the trade associations in HCMC, leaders of many associations voiced their grave concern that technical barriers to help enterprises compete with imported products when import tariffs are reduced to zero are not available yet.
Nguyen Quoc Anh, chairman of the HCMC Rubber and Plastics Association, stressed the technical barrier to protect Vietnamese tire products has not been set up. He highlighted Vietnam is the only ASEAN country without this national vehicle at present.
Anh remarked many Asian countries with similarities to Vietnam have applied the U.S standard.
Sharing the view, Vu Kim Hanh, chairwoman of the Association for High-Quality Vietnamese Products, said Vietnam did not take any significant action in preparation for 2015 when tariff barriers between Vietnam and ASEAN+1 are removed.
For example, the trade promotion program for 2013 does not contain any event and activity concerning ASEAN+1. Meanwhile, other nations have prepared thoroughly and have been bringing their goods to the Vietnamese market.
Through the projects of her association to bring Vietnamese goods to traditional markets and the foreign markets like China, Myanmar and Cambodia, Hanh noted products of Malaysia and Indonesia secure a certain position at the markets. The products are directly brought to the markets and dispatched to traders.
Meanwhile, products of Chinese origin exported to Vietnam via unofficial quotas are still labeled as Vietnamese goods to penetrate the market. “I know many households are earning their living by labeling Chinese goods as Vietnamese products,” said Hanh.
Van Duc Muoi, chairman of the HCMC Food and Foodstuff Association (FFA), emphasized the Vietnamese market would likely be violently intruded in 2015 if technical barriers were not put up. In addition to building technical barriers, the State should assist enterprises in bringing their goods to foreign markets.
Muoi said enterprises should not think they are not good enough to join the international playground. Combining the strengths in domestic market and export, enterprises will be able to compete fairly with foreign products, he said.