Vietnamese Garment Sector: Vitas Is Boosted Strongly by TPP

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, likely to be signed later this year, can strongly boost the Vietnamese garment sector, Le Tien Truong, vice chairman of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS), said while addressing a conference on 'TPP Agreement and participation of Vietnam', Vietnam Plus reported.

The conference was jointly organized by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) and the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Hanoi.

At the conference, MoIT Deputy Minister Tran Quoc Khanh highlighted the various opportunities and challenges that TPP would bring for Vietnamese businesses, and also put forward some proposals for enabling entrepreneurs to make full use of the agreement.

He said it is essential for Vietnam to frame transparent policies to help domestic businesses benefit from the TPP agreement, which covers a wide range of issues.

According to experts, Vietnam is among the countries that would benefit the most from the TPP, as its main objective is to reduce tax barriers to goods and services, which would increase exports of clothing and many other items from Vietnam to major markets, especially the US.

Mr. Truong said the Vietnamese textile and garment sector has substantial interest in the TPP negotiations, and explained the sector's perspective and approach towards the agreement.

While the TPP can strongly boost the Vietnamese garment and textile sector, it would also throw certain challenges such as regulations on origin and greater competition from other TPP-member countries that export garments.

Of the 11 countries with which Vietnam is negotiating the TPP agreement, Vietnam already has free trade relations with seven countries, and hence, the agreement would primarily provide an opportunity for Vietnamese garment sector to expand in the other four markets—Canada, Mexico, Peru and the US, economist Vo Tri Thanh said.