Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc urged the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) to adopt digitalization during the restructuring process, especially in the manufacturing and processing to ensure its role as driving force for growth in the next development phase.

The Government leader gave the remarks at a year-end conference of Vietnam’s trade sector on January 7.

Mr. Phuc said local firms need to focus on the domestic market and take advantage of e-commerce to access markets amid Covid-19 pandemic, saying this is an inevitable trend in the coming time.

He urged the MoIT to continue perfecting legal framework and shifting State management from the current pre-inspection to post-inspection in trading activities, in turn creating a favorable business environment.

“As a member of various trade deals, Vietnam should target greater utilization of preferential treatments at export markets, while diversifying trading activities to avoid over-reliance on a single market,” he said.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

Trade value hits record in 2020

A record high trade turnover of US$544 billion in 2020 indicates Vietnam’s sustainable trade policies being on the right track, said Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh at the conference. 

“While falling short of the export target of US$300 billion for 2020, Vietnam’s trade performance has been positive with a result of US$281 billion despite of the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, subsequently leading to an all-time high trade surplus of US$19.1 billion,” stated Mr. Anh.

“Significant results have kept the foothold of Vietnamese companies in the global supply chain intact during such a difficult period,” he asserted.

Overview of the conference.

Vietnam’s trade revenue in 2020 rose by 6.5% year-on-year to $281.5 billion, which remained among economies with highest export growth in the world.

Meanwhile, Vietnam recorded trade surplus for the fifth consecutive year, and a second year in a row with a trade turnover of over $500 billion.

In addition to strong performance in trade, the industry sector posted a growth rate of 3.36% year-on-year, higher than the national economic growth of 2.91%, in which the manufacturing and processing remained a key growth driver for the economy at 5.82% expansion rate.

According to the trade minister, Vietnam had accelerated its efforts in global integration with the signing of major trade deals in 2020, including the EVFTA, RCEP and UKVFTA, a move that could help secure sustainable development for the trade sector in years to come.