Mr. Nguyen Duc Thuan, President of the Vietnam Leather and Footwear Association (Lefaso) said the association submitted a proposal to the Government, ministries and branches to continue negotiating with the EU for Vietnam's footwear to enjoy the general system of preferences (GSP).
The proposal was released after the EU approved the GSP document in the 2009-2011 period, including removing GSP status for Vietnam's footwear export.
According to Lefaso, removing GSP will affect to the development of the Vietnam footwear sector, domestic business community and national economy in general.
The biggest damage is that domestic businesses will have less competitive advantage because foreign partners will move their orders to Indonesia and Bangladesh to avoid facing an additional 3.5-5 percent import tax on each pair of shoes when exporting to the EU, worth more than 100 million USD.
According to Lefaso, in 2007, the EU remained the biggest consumption market for Vietnamese shoes, bringing in the turnover of 2.6 billion USD, an increase of 33.9% over 2006.
Proposing the government continue to negotiate with the EU is very necessary because the document will be submitted to the European Commission for approval before an official decision is issued in the beginning of July 2008, said Mr. Thuan.
Vietnam Leather and Footwear Association
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