Vietnam has joined 17 Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), of which 14 have taken effect and 3 are newly generated FTAs. Despite facing difficulties in the first months of 2021 due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 epidemic, the textile and garment industry has made breakthroughs from the benefits of such FTAs, especially the EU-VN Free Trade Agreement - EVFTA.
According to Mr. Vu Duc Giang, Chairman of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Society (VITAS), the EVFTA is one of the new generation FTAs that create an extremely attractive dynamic for the textile and garment industry. The market has a comprehensive openness, especially the safety for Vietnamese textiles and garments in the EU market. The EVFTA is the driving force for technology development, automation and digital governance in the context that Vietnam has been fiercely competing in the global textile and garment markets, especially in the European region where the textile industry has a long history. Besides, EVFTA also creates investment attraction of countries in the region including the US, Japan, and South Korea. It is these investment flows that have created added value of textile products to the EU market and other countries around the world. In the context of the Covid-19 epidemic, Vietnam's textile and garment still has a breakthrough growth. In Binh Duong, in the first 5 months of 2021 alone, the exporting price of textiles and garments was estimated at USD 1.14 billion, increasing by 26.3% over the same period and accounting for 8.3% of the total export value of the province.
At present, the textile and garment industry is still encouraging investment in automation equipment and digital technology. Currently, there are many spinning mills that have applied automation technology in their production lines to create a good level of development. Ms. Phan Le Diem Trang, Deputy President of Binh Duong Textile and Appareal Association, Director of International Garment Company at An Dien commune in Ben Cat town, said that to take advantage brought by FTAs, especially, EVFTA, textile and garment enterprises have actively developed advanced technology and management; they have built and developed a team of designers to manufacture in the form of FOB (material autonomy), ODM (self-designed production); close linkage to deal with supply; focus on producing products with high 'gray matter' content is made to bring Vietnamese products and Vietnamese brands to the world markets.
In order for the textile and garment industry to continue to grow, especially during the complicated period of the Covid-19 epidemic, the Binh Duong provincial Department of Industry and Trade has also proactively implemented appropriate solutions to support affected businesses. In addition, the organization exploits and takes advantage of opportunities from FTAs to find solutions to develop the market and remove barriers to enter. It also consolidates and expands export markets by taking full advantage of the FTAs that have taken effect. Product structure is also diversified to improve the competitiveness of export products of the province.
Reported by Phuong Le - Translated by Vi Bao
