Most of Vietnamese products exported to the EU were produced by foreign-invested businesses, said Mrs. Bui Thi Thanh An, deputy head of the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, at a conference held on September 10 in Ho Chi Minh City.
Accordingly, during the past few years, although global economy remained in recession and sovereign debt crisis still lingered on some European countries, two-way trade between Vietnam and the EU still grew positively. Since 2012, the EU has passed the US to become the largest importer and second-largest trade partner of Vietnam. In 2014, total imports and exports between Vietnam and the EU exceeded US$36.8 billion, an increase of 9 percent compared to the same period last year. Of which, exports reached $27.9 billion, up 14.8 percent while imports were above $8.9 billion, down 5.8 percent.
However, in fact, export from Vietnam to the EU totally depends on foreign-invested sector with products, comprising of electronic devices, computers and components, telephones, cellphones and spare parts, garments, and footwear. Meanwhile, Vietnamese businesses are hardly able to access the EU’s market.
The conference on solutions to access to the EU’s market was held by the Ministry of Industry and Trade in association with the EU MUTRAP Project.
