UKVFTA: a bridge for VN to fulfil $10b export target to the UK

Soi Hà pomelos ready for export to the UK from Tuyên Quang province. The province's Yên Sơn District launched the first export batch of almost 8,000 Soi Hà pomelos headed to the UK on October 25. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese enterprises are being urged to exploit market opportunities and take full advantage of the United Kingdom-Việt Nam Free Trade Agreement (UKVFTA) so that exports to the UK will soon reach the US$10 billion mark.

That was the view of the Deputy Director General of the Multilateral Trade Policy Department, under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ngô Chung Khanh.

The UK market has very high requirements for product quality besides competitive prices of goods. The market also has strict technical barriers, such as regulations and standards for food hygiene and safety, especially for agricultural products, Khanh said.

He said that the tastes and consumption trends of products in the UK have also changed significantly. For example, British consumers are increasingly concerned about health, so diet foods such as vegan, sugar-free and gluten-free products are becoming more popular there.

To make more effective use of the UKVFTA, in addition to the support and guidance of State management agencies, businesses should be more proactive in learning and understanding the contents and commitments of the agreement, Khanh suggested.

He also advised local firms to pay effective attention to ensuring compliance, accelerating product development and meeting market requirements.

For its part, the Việt Nam Trade Office will continue to promote the network with the UK business community and Vietnamese overseas enterprises in the UK, to connect and introduce partners to local firms.

Along with providing Vietnamese businesses with updated information on product quality standards and import regulations into the UK, the office will offer them policy information and market opportunities.

Supporting Vietnamese businesses in verifying UK partners, resolving trade disputes and working with supermarket systems in the UK to bring Vietnamese goods into these systems will also be included, he said.

The UKVFTA was completed on December 11, 2020 and signed later that month on December 29, with the agreement becoming effective since May 1, 2021.

The agreement is a driving force in promoting bilateral trade relations between the two countries. After over three years of implementation, the UKVFTA has created economic momentum to support businesses from the two nations, Khanh told baodautu.vn.

In 2021 - the first year of UKVFTA taking effect - bilateral trade between Việt Nam and the UK reached US$6.6 billion, a year-on-year increase of 17.2 per cent.

Despite a decrease in two-way trade in 2022 due to economic difficulties of the world and the UK as well, Việt Nam's exports to the UK still rose two per cent year-on-year, with some major export items recording double-digit growth.

Over the past nine months of this year, two-way trade hit nearly $6.5 billion with $5.7 billion form Vietnamese exports, up 22 per cent year-on-year.

Besides trade, investment from UK businesses to Việt Nam also witnessed improvement after the implementation of the UKVFTA, Khanh said, adding that as of October 2024, the UK had more than 580 projects in Việt Nam, with a total registered investment capital of over $4.4 billion, ranking 15th out of nearly 150 countries and territories investing in Việt Nam.

These figures show the effectiveness of the UKVFTA on export and investment activities between the two countries, Khanh noted.