Socialist Republic of Vietnam

HA Noi, April 18 (VNA) -- Viet Nam's foreign trade volume reached USD 29.5 billion last year, marking a 6.5-fold increase over 1989, while its annual import-export volume mounted to USD 14.3 billion in 1990-2000, or a 2.5-fold rise compared to the 1981-1990 figure, and the number of businesses involved in the import-export sector rose from 270 in 1990 to more than 10,000 at present.

The past decade also witnessed Viet Nam's active integration into the world. The country joined the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1995 and three years later was admitted as a full member of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum (1998). It normalized diplomatic relations with the United States and became an observer of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995.

Viet Nam has already signed trade accords with 61 countries, including the United States in July 2000, and established commercial ties with more than 170 countries and territories as compared to only 50 countries in 1990.

The country posted an average export growth of 2.6 percent higher than its annual gross domestic product (GDP) in 1990-2000. Last year, Viet Nam's average per capita export share was USD 184, getting out of the less developed foreign trade list.

Of the 1995-2000 export value, agriculture and forestry accounted for 14.5 percent, mining industry 20.3 percent and processing industry 63.3 percent. The foreign direct investment sector has not only helped domestic businesses to develop and improve their product quality through competition, but also made a remarkable contribution to the rise of export value.

Now, Viet Nam has ten products reaching export value of more than USD 200 million, including four items (crude oil, garments, footwear and sea food) surpassing the USD 1 billion mark (crude topping USD 2 billion) as against only two items in 1989.

Currently, the country's key exports make up as much as 75-80 percent of its total export value as compared with about 60 percent in 1990. Viet Nam's products have been sold well in foreign markets, including "hard- to-compete" markets like the European Union (EU), Japan and North America.

Viet Nam's value of exports to Africa now stands at about USD 70 million and to the Oceania at more than USD 1 billion as compared to below USD 1 million each in 1989.

The change of export market proportions has helped Viet Nam's economy survive the hardest time when political upheavals swept over the world conducive to the dissolution of the former Soviet Union and East European socialist countries in the late 1980s and early 1990s as well as the regional economic crisis in 1997-98.

Over the past two years, Viet Nam has restored its traditional Eastern Europe markets for its agricultural and processed farm products as well as handicrafts, garments and footwear.

Viet Nam's imports grew 17.5 percent annually in 1990-2000. Meanwhile, the yearly import of the foreign direct investment (FDI) sector rose 39 percent in 1994-2000, accounting for 20.7 percent of Viet Nam's import volume.

Viet Nam has to date imported materials and goods from 130 countries and territories, especially Japan and the Republic of Korea that have obtained an important market share.

The growth of export and strict control of import helped reduce the country's trade deficit to 21.6 percent in 1990-2000 from 114 percent in 1986-1989.

In order to further boost foreign trade, Viet Nam is seeking more effective measures to remove limitations in the export scale and proportion, raise the quality of its export products and prevent trade frauds and smuggling.--VNA