“It will require great efforts from both Government and businesses to reach that goal,” Hoang said at an o­nline dialogue via the Government Web Portal o­n Jan. 6.

According to the minister, in 2011 Vietnam ’s balance of trade was remarkably improved with an export turnover reaching 96.3 billion USD, up 33 percent against the previous year.

The country’s trade deficit was over 9.5 billion USD, down 25 percent compared to the previous year and equivalent to 9.9 percent of total export revenues.

This is an encouraging result, however, it will be difficult to maintain this figure in the coming years, Hoang noted.

He said that Vietnam has always been a country suffering a trade deficit, as it has to import machinery, equipment, fuel and materials and other essential goods for daily use.

“We will have to continue imports if we don’t have a strong enough manufacturing and mechanical industry, lack support industries and prefer foreign goods to locally made o­nes,” he said