'Time for a New Itinerary', VCCI Chairman

24 Nov '07

3 min read

Doan Duy Khuong Ph.D, Vice Chairman of Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), made this statement after Vietnam officially joined the WTO as the 150th member. However, according to Mr. Khuong, apart from benefits for the economy by the WTO entry, Vietnamese enterprises, especially SMEs, need to do many things to tap opportunities in the integration period. The trade deficit remains a prevailing problem. How do you assess the integration of Vietnamese enterprises one year after Vietnam joined the WTO? Do Vietnamese businesses follow the track of WTO integration?

Vietnam actually already integrated into the world before its accession to the WTO, by joining ASEAN, ASEM and APEC. Moreover, Vietnam also signed bilateral deals with many countries and organisations, especially the Vietnam-US bilateral trade agreement (BTA). However, Vietnam fully integrated into the world economy when officially joining the WTO.

Vietnamese enterprises are unique in the world because most of them are small and medium sized, even giant Vietnamese firms are still small in comparison with the world. Vietnamese enterprises are mainly base production on natural resources, not making products with high technological content. As a result, most Vietnamese companies are still very small on the world scale.

Enterprises in each country have their own advantages, but they know to share the market in production. For example, an iPhone of the US is manufactured in China. Multinational companies know how to share production market to enhance productivity and profit margins. Meanwhile, Vietnamese enterprises usually think they must execute their business from A to Z.

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