On 23 July 2019, at the Conference “EVFTA – Opportunities and Challenges for businesses in aluminum industry in Vietnam” which was hosted by the Private Economic Development Research Board (Board IV), under Advisory Council on Administrative Procedure Reform (ACAPR) of the Prime Minister, in coordination with the Association of aluminum bar manufacturing for construction and industry in Vietnam, Mr. Minh Nguyen – CEEC Board Member cum EuroCham Vice Chairman, and Mr. Florian Beranek – CEEC Board Member participated and had their speech there.
According to Mr. Minh, when the EVFTA is ratified, EU businesses will tend to shift investment to Vietnam, thereby export in ASEAN and towards Asia region.
For Vietnam, the movement will increase foreign investment, this is a predictable trend, but deeply, there will be many companies not only in Vietnam but also the foreign-invested companies of a third country seek to take advantage of this. In addition to the expectation that European businesses will bring more advanced technologies, the greater benefit that Vietnam needs to achieve is that domestic small and medium enterprises can participate in this business supply chain.
Mr. Florian Beranek, Senior Expert on CSR of UNIDO, Board Member of CEEC said that Vietnamese businesses must be ready to compete.
“With aluminum industry, the tariff reduction to 0% is relatively lucky. However, we should note that there isn’t the final approval yet and many things need to do. It’s necessary to consider the routes and make sure everyone is willing to negotiate and accept”, said Mr. Florian.