15-year WTO membership: Viet Nam affirms position in international integration

Since Viet Nam joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) 15 years ago, the country has made big strides on the path of international integration, confidently joining the global playground.

With 17 free trade agreements (FTAs) whose negotiations have been completed or underway, Viet Nam has become an open economy with a trade to GDP ratio of up to 200 percent.

According to the Agency of Foreign Trade under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), Vietnamese firms have maximized advantages to boost exports and penetrate into new markets.

The country’s total export-import value rose from US$84.7 billion in 2006 to US$545.3 billion last year. In the first 10 months of this year, the figure was US$537.31 billion.

Viet Nam has always recorded a trade surplus, from US$1.77 billion in 2016, to US$2.1 billion in 2017, US$ 6.8 billion in 2018, US$10.9 billion in 2019 and US$19 billion in 2020.

The structure of exports has been improved significantly, with the turnover of processed industrial goods increasing from 80.3 percent in 2016 to 85.1 percent in 2019 and 85.2 percent last year.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Quoc Khanh cited a report by the WHO last year as saying that among the top 50 merchandise traders, Viet Nam recorded the biggest increase in the world's rankings, leaping from the 39th place in 2009 to the 23rd position in 2019.

The numbers reflect that Viet Nam is an open economy after joining the WTO and seriously realizing its commitments, he stressed.

Moreover, the signing and implementation of FTAs have helped the country attract more foreign direct investment (FDI), creating momentum for the national economy, the official added.

Ngo Chung Khanh, Deputy Direrector of the MoIT’s Multilateral Trade Policy Department, said apart from reducing administrative procedures, the ministry will continue with the communication work to raise domestic firms’ awareness of the FTAs.

Notably, the ministry will speed up the building of the FTA Portal (FTAP), he said, adding that more than 20 ministries and agencies will join a working group to operate and upgrade the portal.

Deputy Minister Khanh affirmed that Viet Nam will further promote trade policies comprehensively and synchronously to boost economic development in tandem with sustainable development.

Viet Nam will work harder to effectively implement the present international commitments and FTAs, while seeking potential partners to conduct negotiations on new FTAs, thereby helping to expand trade ties in the future, he said.