Kết quả về tạo thuận lợi thương mại tại việt nam

This paper points out that Vietnam’s abilityto strengthen thecountry’s international economic integration depends on the country’s trade facilitation measures.. Definition of Trade Facil

RESULTS OF TRADE FACILITATION

• NGUYEN HOAI THU

ABSTRACT:

In recent years, the idea of trade facilitation has expanded to the modernization and automation of importprocedures in order tomake the adoption of international standards easier

It isgenerally understood that trade facilitation involves the reduction of transaction costs for all parties in the compliance with trade regulations and policies Trade facilitationis now recognized

as a key driving factorin determining export competitiveness of a country For countries like Vietnam which is increasingly integrating intotheglobaleconomythroughexports and imports of goods and services, it iscrucial thattradeshould be “facilitated” through appropriate measures This paper points out that Vietnam’s abilityto strengthen thecountry’s international economic integration depends on the country’s trade facilitation measures

Keywords: trade facilitation, international cooperation, international trade

l.Introduction

In recent years,the idea oftrade facilitationhas

expandedto the modernization and automation of

importprocedures in order to make theadoption of

international standards easier It is generally

understood that trade facilitation involves the

reduction of transaction costsfor all parties in the

enforcement, regulation and administration of

trade policies Trade facilitation has been

described as the “plumbing” of international trade

(Hoekman et al., 2002) thatfocuses on theefficient

implementation of trade rules and regulations By

nature, trade facilitation is very technical and

detailed, withthe underlying objectiveof reducing

various forms of non-tariff barriers that impose

significant loss of time and costs in conducting

trade, including an excessive number of

documents, involvementof dozens of agencies, and

complexity in data reporting and processing It is in

this context that the simplification of customs procedures is of great importance for countries around the world and Vietnam is no exception

2 Data and Methodology

The literature review is a continuous process that consists of literature collection, analysis, comparison and criticism In addition, books, reports from internet sources are used to find additional information Besides, severaldatabases, such as Google Scholar, EBSCO Business Source Premier, Elsevier Science Direct, Emerald, Springer, SAGE and JSTOR are usedin the course

ofthe literatureresearch

Furthermore, to collect data for analysis, the author also looks for reports and database from international organizations such as the World Bank (WB), International Monetary Fund (IMF), United Nations (UN) andso on Regardingthe information about tradedevelopment in Vietnam, reports from

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TẠP CHÍ CÔNG THƯƠNG

several organizations, including Vietnam Trade

Promotion Agency under the Ministry of Industry

and Trade andotherindependentagencies

3 Literature review

3.1 Definition of Trade Facilitation

Various definitions of “trade facilitation” have

been used by international organizations and in

trade agreements According to the Organization

for Economic Co-operation and Development

(OECD), trade facilitation means the simplification

and harmonization of international trade

procedures including the activities, practices and

formalities involved in collecting, presenting,

communicating and processing data and other

information required for the movement of goods in

international trade (OECD, 2005)

In addition, many bilateral and regional trade

agreementshave a broaderunderstanding of trade

facilitation, extending more generally to “any

procedures, processes or policies capable of

reducing transaction costsand facilitating the flow

of goods in international trade” United Nations

defined trade facilitation s a policy that reduces

costs, uncertainty and time expanded over

international trade of goods, excluding out

traditional instruments like tariffs levied over the

international transactions (ESCAP, 2009)

Similarly, the World Customs Organization (WCO)

pointed out that the core definition of trade

facilitation is “lowering trade transaction costs and

creating standard efficiencies”(WCO, 2011)

With a view to maintaining a sound balance

between the operational procedures and

stakeholders’ requirements, the global trading

community has long been striving tomove towards

the conceptof paperless trade Thisimplies a shift

towards automation and thevirtualabandonment of

all paperwork The potential benefitsof paperless

trade include easier processing of more reliable

information, a reduction of costs and delays all

along the supply chain, and increased security in

conducting international trade

3.2 Changes in the trade facilitation regulatory

and policy framework

International cooperation on trade facilitation

pre-dates the World Trade Organization (WTO)

but has been given more attention since the

inclusion of trade facilitation as a topic under the WTO in 1992 Two multilateral agreements, the wco Revised Kyoto Convention (RKC) and the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), have been negotiated in the past years and now constitutea multilateral framework for a core setof trade facilitation measures and disciplines to be implemented and respected globally They complement older legal instruments such as the UNECE Convention of Harmonization ofFrontier Controls (1982), and the International Customs convention TIR (1975), the FAL Convention (1962) as well as other regional or transport mode specificagreements

By creating theseinstruments, namely thewco RKC and the WTO TFA, governments have deepened and strengthened their commitment to implement trade facilitation The wco RKC

provides standards and recommendations to harmonize and simplify Customs procedures and practices The WTO TF is a more horizontal Agreement thatcovers a wide range of government activities Implementation of the Agreement will require WTO Members to take legislative and non­ legislative, i.e organizational or practical measures

Over the past 30 years, the number ofexisting trade agreementshasincreasedrapidly on a global scale In 2010, more than 300 preferential trade agreements werenotified to theWTO and were in effect The proliferation of these agreements and customs unions increases the complexity of overlapping trade rules and raise specific trade facilitation concerns with regards to the rules of origin Irregularities, including deliberate fraud, with Certificates of Origin (CoO) arecommon CoOare stillcommonly paper-based, physically accompany the goods, need to be presented as original copy for customs processing The direct exchange of CoOamongstissuingadministration is

anemerging trend adopted for pilot projects, such

as the Senegal-CI exchange project Another approach to secure authenticity and integrity of CoO is the self-certification Exporter based risk management and information exchange with the issuing authorities in the foreign country are other means to limit CoO fraud

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Afterthe September11attacks in theU.S, many

governments adopted security measures that

significantly affect port, transport and border

proceduresworldwide Global transport of goodsis

now subject to additional requirements as

regulators worldwide push for the advance

submission of cargo information to identify security

risks easierand earlier

Numerous countries have introduced Advance

Cargo Declaration requirements for maritime

container goods and / or airfreight includingthe EU,

the U.S, Japan, Australia and New Zealand,

Mexico, Turkey, China and the Philippines Under

these requirementstransportoperators are obliged

to provide a defined set of data prior to arrival

(exact time requirements differ across regulations)

to Customs authorities and/or port and aviation

authorities

3.3 Key trends in implementing trade

facilitation measures

3.3.1 Agency cooperation

Many trade facilitation instruments and

concepts, including the WTO TFA, RKCand TIR,

focus on the Customs administrations and the

simplification of their procedures and processing

This perspective, however,isincreasingly replaced

bya more integrated vision of trade facilitationthat

brings in other government agencies, such as food

control agencies, veterinaryservices, and transport

bodies Mandates, responsibilities and

interventions on goods and means of transport

overlap, in particular with regards to control

measures applied to goods crossing the borders

Simplification for trade facilitation therefore

requires integration both from the organizational

and the IT perspective and stretches to risk

management, border management, as wellas pre­

clearance formalities

Information integration has been the driving

force behind so-calledSingleWindows for trade In

conceptual, Single Window scenarios, external

users-traders and other intermediaries-submit

structured information to a single platform where

internal users-government entities or other service

providers-access the information, process it,

communicate between each other, and

communicatethedecision backto theexternal user

3.3.2 Cross-border cooperation

The simplification of proceduresrests to alarge extent on the cooperation of neighbouring countries and trading partners Process, procedures and document alignment and harmonization across borders, cuts costs to traders who are shipping goods across several borders Sharing data and information through point-to-point communication amongst administtations across borders provides additional security relevantinformation, allows for

a better control of transit movement, and secures licenses and certificates that are common sources

of fraud, such as the CoO or the Sanitary and Phytosanitary certificates Cross-border exchange

of data is currently pursued in many regions on different levels; for transit movements, for sharing

of licenses and certificates from government to government (G2G), and for sharing of customs data (WCGOGCNetc.)

3.3.3 Paperless trade

Information exchange inglobal supply chains

A seamlessflowof information is at the center

of modern supply chain management Supply chains that are geographically fragmented and extended rest upon information processing and exchange amongst supply chain partners Information visibility, Information timeliness, and Traceability are the three information requirements thatmatter most

Supply chain partners already havea lotofdata available in electronic format: Notifications, requests and services orders are produced and exchanged amongst transport operators, e-invoices sent between partners and to clients, and certificates anddocuments exchangedwithauthorities Logistics partners also use specificsoftware and platforms for processes from warehouse management, to route planning and order management, and to increase productivity and performance

Progress with paperless trade with the introduction of modem equipment and technology for control and facilitation at border points, and clearance facilities Customs administrations tap m-services, use barcode and QR codes to retrieve information, and technologies such as license plate number reading for vehicle control at border stations

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Data andmessaging harmonization

Many current trade facilitation initiatives call

for more cooperation and integration across

agencies, across borders, and between ICT

systems The UNTDED and UNCEFACT code lists

are widely usedforunambiguous identification of

data elements that can be integrated into data

models Two hierarchical data models, thewco

data model and the UN CCL, constitute de facto

standards for data harmonization for trade and

transport facilitation National and regional data

harmonization efforts align their data models to

both data models The wco data model

incorporates non-Customs requirements of other

agencies and can accommodate a large type of data

and messagesfromsupplychain partners

In addition to the global initiatives and

instruments, initiatives also emerge at industry

level and for specific transportsectors, suchas for

the advance cargo information (IATA cargo xml

message), and standards forelectronic documents

(e-CargoSecurity Document (e-CSD)) InEurope,

projects, such as e-freightand the National Single

Window (NSW) for transport, build a framework

for information exchange based on common data

and messagestandards

3.3.4 Client orientation in public administration

Public administration leverages the benefits of

automation and fasterand processing through ICT

Improved process speed and efficiency provide an

answer to resource scarcity and growing trade

volumes But there are two additional elementsfor

which ICT can and increasingly isleveraged: the

reduction of physicaland time barriers for service

delivery, and improved information provision

In the real world, administrations physically

locatedin different places havedifferent operating

times, and responsibilities and mandates are

fragmented over various bodies By using ICT, this

geographic, procedure and time fragmentation can

be overcome Physical presence is not necessary

for obtaining information and submitting

documents, and services provided by different

entitiescan beaccessed in a single location at any

time There is the trend across in government

affairs to set up online portals that regroup different

services from different entities and that allow

citizens to interact with one access point without physicalcontact

4 Results of trade facilitation in Vietnam

Accordingto the World Bank, Vietnam exports for 2019 was $279.72 billion, a 7.79% increase from2018, while import value was $271.36billion,

a7.99% increasefrom 2018 This increase is due to the trade facilitation measures that have been applied

Indicators of the trading across borders environment are published by the Worlds Bank and measure the trade environment in terms of time, numberof proceduresandcost requiredfor import and exportof a standardized cargo

Tomake a comparison, a number regions have been included in the Table 4.1 The regions are East Asia/Pacific and the OECD When comparing Vietnam to the East Asia/Pacific region’s average,

a positive picture emerges Vietnam has more favourable trading environment than the East Asia/Pacific average according to all the indicators, except the number of documents necessary to import This again indicates that importing to Vietnam is more difficultthanexporting

Lastly, when comparing Vietnam with the OECD average, it can be seen that it takes more than twice as long to import and export from Vietnam compared to the OECD average, even though the number of documents required for trading and the associated costs is rather competitive

By looking deeper into the data in the table below for Vietnam, one can conclude that preparing documents is the main bottleneck as half

of the total time requiredin the export and import process involves document preparation

Table 4.2 shows thatthe timeto handle portof border procedure for exporting is longer than importingbut the cost for exporting islessthanthat for importing

4.1 Trade flows

Trade facilitation is likely to affect imports and export volumes.By removing redundant andtime­ consuming procedures trade costs will fall and the export andimport volumes will rise

In Vietnam’s case, the trade flows are in line with the effects we expectfrom trade facilitation

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Table 4.1: Comparison of Doing Business Indicators between Vietnam and selected regions in 2020

Region or Economy Vietnam East Asia & Pacific OECD

Time to export: Border compliance (hours) 55 57.5 12.7 Cost to export: Border compliance (USD) 290 381.1 136.8 Time to export: Documentary compliance (hours) 50 55.6 2.3

Cost to export: Documentary compliance (USD) 139 109.4 33.4 Time to import: Border compliance (hours) 56 68.4 8.5

Cost to import: Border compliance (USD) 373 422.8 98.1 Time to import: Documentary compliance (hours) 76 53.7 3.4

Cost to import: Documentary compliance (USD) 183 108.4 23.5

(Source: World Bank, 2020)

Table 4.2: Indicators of Trading across borders in Vietnam in 2020

Export Import Time to

complete (hours)

Cost (USD)

Time to complete (hours)

Cost (USD)

Clearance and inspections required by customs authorities 5 60 16 85 Clearance and inspections required by agencies other than customs 8 25 8 0 Port of border handling 55 205 32 288

(Source: World Bank, 2020)

Trade has become more important

for the economy

In 2017, Vietnam had a total

export of 215,118,607 in

thousandsof USS and total import

of213,215,299.14 in thousandsof

us$ leading to a positive trade

balance of 1,903,307.86 in

thousandsofus$ The Effectively

Applied Tariff Weighted Average

(customs duty) for Vietnam is

2.69% and the Most Favoured

Nation (MFN) Weighted Average

tariffis 5.88%.The tradegrowth is

9.79% compared to a world growth

of 5.68% GDP of Vietnam is

245,213,686,370 in current us$

Vietnam service export is 14,790,500,000 in BoP,

current us$andservices import is 18,470,000,000

in Bop, current us$ Vietnam’s exports ofgoods

Figure 4.3: Vietnam’s trade balance during 2010 - 2019

andservices as percentage of GDP is 105.83% and imports of goods and services as percentage of GDP is 102.47%

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Figure 4.4: Vietnam’s trade growth rate compared

to GDP growth rate

Figure 4.5: Vietnam’s trade flow as share of total

As shown in the Figure4.5, Vietnam’s tradeto

GDP ratio has been increasing since 2010 The

ratioin 2019 was 210.40%, a 2.09% increase from

2018 This result is contributed to the

implementation of various TF measures during

recent years

4.2 Export diversification

Trade facilitation is also likely to promote

product diversification As trade costs decrease,

companies are able to diversify their production

and to produce timesensitive goods that previously

were not exported due to time consuming procedures Time sensitive goods tend to have high value, which implies that faster customs clearance couldresult in more production of higher value products Such goods are likelyto include textiles and clothing, perishable products and semi­ finished products, that all rely on timely deliveries

Conclusions about the effects

of trade facilitationon trade flows from Vietnam can be drawnwhen studying the manufactures as share of total exports over time The share of manufactures shows

an upward trend, withan increase from 64% in 2010 to 80.5% in

2019 Consequently, the country has diversified its production by producing more manufactures than previously, partly as a result

of trade facilitation

4.3 Customs revenues

Trade facilitationreduces trade costs and increases trade flows, which in turn increases the customs revenues Customs revenueisan important source of government revenue, especially

in developing countries that may lack other tax systems Earlier experiences suggest that customs modernisation programmes have

a large positive effecton customs revenues Several countries have more than doubled their customs revenues after successful implementation customs modernisation programmes Even relatively modest reform programmes result in increased customsrevenues The Vietnamese government's revenue from customs duties in the first five months of 2020 was estimated atUS$5.3 billion, down 17.18%from the same period of 2019 This is partly aresult oftrade facilitation efforts and increased economic integration aswell as economic development

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Figure 4.6: Manufactures as share of total exports

during 2010 - 2019

(Source: World Bank, 2019)

Figure 4.7: Vietnam’s FDI inwards during 2010 - 2019

(in billion USD)

(Source: World Bank, 2019)

The amount of FDI in Vietnam shows an upward trend from 2010 and onwards, see figure below According to the World Bank, Vietnam has been one of the largest recipients of FDI in the world, in relative terms FDI is the result of other reforms as well, but it is likely that trade facilitation has had a positive influence on the large inflows of FDI inVietnam

4.5 Cross-border trade value

Thanks to the application of trade facilitations measures, cross-border trade of Vietnam with other countries has made significant progress In terms of trading markets, the top 20 trading partners of Vietnam account for about 80% of her total trade China, the United States and Japan have been the three largest trade partners of Vietnam for many years Since signing a bilateral trade agreement with the US in 2000 and joining the WTO in 2007, Vietnam’s trade relations have been more diversified Trade with Europe accounted for 8.32%

of Vietnam’s total trade in 2011 Trade with Australia and South Africa also accounts a considerable share At the same

4.4 Foreign direct investment

Trade facilitation also tendsto promoteFDI and

have positive effects on theinvestment climate ina

country.Highpredictability and lowtradecosts are

important aspects when companies decide where to

invest Tradefacilitation that results in lower trade

cost and a more predicable customsadministration

attracts FDI inflows The efficiency of customs

procedures is especially important to attract

investments in industries that produce time­

sensitive goods

time, trade withASEANmember and emerging economies such as Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and India has increased noticeably overthe past decade

Vietnam and South Asian countries have good political relationship A typical example of that relationship is the Vietnam-India strategic partnership established in 2007 Currently, Vietnam and many South Asian countries have built up a fairly complete legal framework as a basis for the development and strengthening of cooperationrelations

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Vietnam's largest export markets in South

Asia include India, Bangladesh,Pakistan,and Sri

Lanka Thetotal number of products exportedto

South Asia in 2010, 2011 and 2012 has reached

more than 77 commodity groups However, it can

be seen that Vietnam's exports to South Asia are

still concentrated in a numberof key commodity

groups: mobile phones; clinker; rubber;

computers, electronic products and components

and agricultural products The structure of

imported goods focused mainly onfourgroupsof

goods: corn, animal feed and raw materials;

medicine; cotton of all kinds; machinery,

equipment and spare parts

The largest import markets of Vietnam in

South Asia include: India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka

Thus, it can be seen that the trade relations

between Vietnam andSouth Asiancountries over

the past time have developed relatively

positively However, compared with the great

potential of the two sides and the trend of

expanding economic and trade relations under

the influence of globalization trend, the

relationship between Vietnam and South Asian

countries needsto be further strengthened This is

completely consistent with the interests of all

parties and the goal of promoting economic and trade growth that Vietnam and South Asian countrieshave set

5 Conclusion

Trade facilitation is now recognized as a key driving factor in determining export competitiveness of a country In a case such as Vietnam, which is being increasingly integrated into the global economy through exports and imports of goods and services, itiscrucialthat trade

is “facilitated” through appropriate measures Vietnam’s ability to ensure strengthened global integration of its economydepends on theefficacy

of such measures

Particularly with Vietnam, we will need to continue to improve policies to promote trade relations with South Asian countries to match Vietnam's integration commitments and increase the competitiveness of Vietnamese enterprises market in South Asian countries, especially with key markets such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh andSri Lanka These are countrieswithrelatively high levels of development in the region, large purchasing power, with long-term development prospects anddriving forces for the whole region's development ■

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Received date: April 2,2022

Reviewed date: April 14,2022

Accepted date: April 28,2022

Author’s information:

Master NGUYEN HOAI THU

Trade Union University

KẾT QUẢ VỀ TẠO THUẬN LƠI thương mại

TẠI VIỆT NAM

• ThS NGUYỄNHOÀI THU

Đại học Công đoàn

TÓM TẤT:

Trong những nămgầnđây, ý tưởngvề tạothuận lợi thươngmại đã được mở rộng, bao gồm việc hiệnđại hóavà tự động hóa các thủ tục nhập khẩu nhằmgiúp việcápdụng các tiêuchuẩn quốctế dễdànghơn Tạo thuận lợi thương mạilàviệc giảm chi phí giaodịch cho tất cả các bên trongviệcthực thi các quy định và chính sách quản lýthương mại Tạo thuận lợi thương mạihiện đượccoi là nhân tố quantrọng hàng đầu quyếtđịnhđến khả năng cạnh tranh trong xuấtkhẩu của một quốc gia Trong trườnghợp như Việt Nam vốn đanghội nhập ngày càng sâu rộng vào nền kinh tế toàn cầu thông qua xuất nhập khẩuhàng hóa và dịch vụ, điềucốtyêu là thương mại phải được “tạo thuận lợi” thôngqua cácbiệnpháp thích hợp Bài viếtnày nêu rõ khả năng đảm bảo tăng cường hội nhập toàn cầu của nền kinh tếViệt Nam phụ thuộcvào hiệu quả của các biện pháptạo thuận lợi thương mại

Từ khóa: tạothuậnlợi thương mại,hợp tác quốc tế,thương mại quốc tế

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