Pacific trade pact to boost Vietnam garment exports

03 Mar '12

1 min read

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, which is to take a final form this year, would help Vietnam to improve the quality of its key export items like textiles and apparels, thus raising their value and making them more appealing to global markets, including the US market, an US trade official said.

The TPP is a multilateral free trade agreement that aims to further liberalise the economies of the Asia-Pacific region.

The pact contains provisions in respect of helping Vietnam to meet world quality standards in various key sectors like garments and textiles, which would hasten economic reforms, and thus benefit Vietnam the most, according to Demetrios Marantis, Deputy US Trade Representative.

As per the US International Trade Commission data, next to China, Vietnam was the second largest exporter of textiles and apparels to the US last year.

Marantis said that it is a challenge for the pact negotiators to identify the areas where both the countries have mutual benefits. For instance, US has 'import sensitivities' for textiles, one of Vietnam's key export items, he added.

According to the US Commerce Department data, bilateral trade between the two countries totalled US$ 21.8 billion during 2011.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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