Enhance information on international economic integration

Comrade Nguyen Cam Tu, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade and General Secretary of the Interdisciplinary Steering Committee for International Economic Integration, said that the project "Strengthening information and propaganda work on international economic integration" is being deployed to many subjects, the purpose is to strengthen close coordination between ministries, branches, localities, and businesses to have a master plan on information and propaganda work on integration.

Comrade Nguyen Thi Hong, Vice Chairwoman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, assessed that Vietnam has joined the WTO a long time ago. Experts recognize that we are deeply and widely participating in international integration, but no one knows specifically how deep and how wide it is. It is reasonable for Vietnamese enterprises to not have a detailed grasp of integration information because there are so many principles and regulations that it is difficult to fully understand. For example, Vietnam joined the WTO with 11 thousand pages of documents, only experts can grasp all the information in this document, and it is difficult for businesses and people to fully know the information in it, especially information about technical barriers when exporting and importing goods. “From now until the end of 2015 there is not much time left, so departments, branches, organizations and experts need toQuickly disseminate information to businesses and people so they can grasp the details about integration", - comrade Nguyen Thi Hong proposed.

According to Mr. Pham Binh An, Director of the WTO Center of Ho Chi Minh City, the integration process has come behind businesses, but many units, especially small and medium-sized enterprises in the city, still do not clearly understand basic information about integration. Ho Chi Minh City currently has more than 3,500 businesses in dire need of information on trade regulations, goods origin, tariff policies, information from product groups, each market... to regulate production and business accordingly. According to a textile enterprise in Tan Phu district, small and medium-sized businesses are still quite vague about the laws when Vietnam joins the common economy with ASEAN countries. Not knowing all the information about tariffs, customs procedures, and markets is a big disadvantage, so it is recommended that the authorities need to have policies to help.more in providing accurate information to manufacturers. On behalf of the Ho Chi Minh City Food Association, Ms. Ly Kim Chi said that more than 80% of the association's businesses are small and medium-sized, and these businesses still do not have full access to information about integration. Recently, a member enterprise imported machines from Japan and received a 10% tax exemption, but the owner of this enterprise did not know the information so he paid the full tax, which is unfair. Most businesses today really need information when integrating such as tax, customs, and market roadmaps.

In Dong Nai province, although it is a locality with strong industrial development, currently only enterprises with foreign direct investment (FDI) have a clear understanding of integration, small and medium-sized enterprises are still very vague. Comrade Duong Manh Dung, Deputy Director of the Department of Industry and Trade of Dong Nai province, said that since 2000, enterprises in the FDI sector in Dong Nai have organized to learn about integration and are ready to join the common market when agreements are signed. For domestic enterprises, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, although they have been trained and propagated about integration, the information about integration that enterprises have is very little. Professor and Doctor Doan Thi Hong Van, Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics shared: "There is a lot of information about integration, so it is necessary to disseminate it in advance.What agreement is about to be signed and how it will affect businesses and people to communicate to each audience. Vietnamese people are very optimistic, many businesses have told us that whatever happens will happen, worrying in advance cannot solve anything, such thoughts are not okay."

When Vietnam's economy integrates with other economies, signed bilateral or multilateral regulations must be complied with and treated equally. Therefore, domestic enterprises need to prepare well in spirit and business plans to do business with foreign enterprises. In order for businesses to access information about integration fully, quickly and accurately, each business and each industry must state the advantages and disadvantages of Vietnam's economic integration. From that actual need, specialized agencies of the city government will gather and coordinate with higher competent agencies to have a roadmap to provide complete information to manufacturers and businesses.

DAI DONG