National trade repository to ensure ASEAN information transparency compliance
VOV.VN - The Vietnam National Trade Repository (VNTR) is expected to go live on March 30, with the event being jointly organized by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) and the British Embassy in Vietnam.
The VNTR will be a free-to-access online portal that will provide all of the latest trade information in both English and Vietnamese.
The UK's Global Trade Programme (GTP) supports the (MoIT) in developing the VNTR which will be linked to the ASEAN Trade Repository (ATR) https://atr.asean.org/.
This will ensure that the country fully complies with ASEAN information transparency obligations as outlined in Article 13 of the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA).
According to Luong Hoang Thai, head of the Multilateral Trade Policy Department at the MoIT, the establishment of the VNTR sets out to fulfil Vietnamese commitments within ASEAN to improve the transparency of trade policies and regulations. This is in addition to facilitating greater regional trade and supporting business communities in gaining easier access to information about the country’s commitments on trade in goods, trade in services, and investment under the ASEAN co-operation framework. This will help firms be more proactive in their business strategy development and enhance their overall competitiveness during the process of Vietnam building the ASEAN Economic Community with other member states.
Trevor O’Regan, team leader for the VNTR project, said, “The National Trade Repository is a resource that the British Government is proud to have supported, one which enables SME and micro businesses to access the information they need to take advantage of trading in Vietnam’s dynamic market. Clear, readily accessible information is crucial in encouraging more businesses to trade internationally and to driving economic development.”
Regarding the sustainability of the VNTR, he added, “The VNTR will be a central repository designed to provide access to all regulations and relevant trade facilitation information. It will provide transparency and clarity on information which businesses need to comply with when they seek to trade. It will be a free-to-access online information platform that provides all the latest trade regulations and information that businesses need to export and import to and from Vietnam when it goes live. In the medium-term, sustainability is the paramount concern for the VNTR. It is essential that information provided by the VNTR is both comprehensive and kept up to date and also that the VNTR is promoted widely to potential users of this free online source in both English and Vietnamese.”
The VNTR will be a database built in order to provide information on regulations and information related to trade facilitation activities. The information provided will be both transparent and clear, making it easy for firms to comply when conducting commercial transactions.
As expected, the VNTR will be a source of information that small, medium, and micro-sized enterprises can easily access and capitalise on in order to create advantages in transactions in the dynamic Vietnamese market.