This year, it will carry out programs on trade promotion, economic restructuring, industrial promotion, and those on labour and credit to ease business difficulties.

It will organise business conferences to capitalize on free trade agreements (FTAs) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement due to be signed later this year.

The provincial Department of Industry and Trade (DIT) Director Le Van Danh says the US economy is expected to pick up stream this year, creating numerous prospects for Vietnam’s exports to find a niche in the marketplace.

He says the department is striving to keep regular contact with businesses to more timely address their concerns so as to boost exports to the US.

To this end, it will conduct trade promotion programs and strengthen links with representative offices of economic groups in HCM City to provide more exposure for their export products in anticipation of expanding the market.

Recently, the provincial People’s Committee sat down with the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Vietnam to work out detailed plans for expanded cooperation in overseas investment and exports, especially in human resource training.

Nguyen Ngoc Tuan, Vice Chairman of the Dong Nai Import-Export Association, says this year the US will remain the number one importer of Dong Nai products and the business community needs to be keenly aware of technical barriers that the US imposes.

Since late 2013, the purchasing power of products, such as garment, footwear, ceramics, timber products, and machinery and equipment has been on the rebound, especially in the US market.

Based on the number of signed contracts for these products so far this year, this trend is anticipated to continue and bodes well for exports throughout the remainder of 2014.

In 2013 US imports from the province were US$3.17 billion, the largest importer and accounted for 30% of the province’s total exports.

When the TPP is signed, the US market will open wide for Dong Nai businesses as tariffs will dramatically decrease, allowing for more competitive pricing and giving Made-in Vietnam products an edge.

Key products which have a tremendous opportunity of finding a footing in the US include footwear, garments, cashew nuts, wood and timber products, steel, agricultural products and seafood.

From now until 2015, the province will aim to develop corollary markets, such as Cambodia, Japan, the RoK, India, Australia, Chile, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and the UAE which have high demands for key provincial products.