On April 8, at the Government headquarters, the Ministry of Industry and Trade coordinated with the Government Office to organize the Announcement Ceremony of the Index for assessing the implementation results of free trade agreements of localities - FTA Index in 2024. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attended and gave a speech. Comrade Cao Tuong Huy, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee attended the conference at the Government headquarters; leaders of relevant departments and branches attended the conference at the Quang Ninh province bridge.
A free trade agreement (FTA) is an agreement between two or more members to remove barriers to large parts of trade between members. To date, Vietnam has negotiated, signed and implemented 17 FTAs with more than 60 partners across continents, making an important contribution to the development of Vietnam's economy, which is increasingly developed and strong.
To further improve the effectiveness of FTA implementation, in 2024 the Ministry of Industry and Trade took the lead in developing the FTA Index. This is a quantitative, objective, and comprehensive tool, built on a survey of businesses in 63 provinces and cities across the country; helping the Government, ministries, branches, and localities promptly identify bottlenecks in the implementation of commitments and propose specific improvement solutions, serving the direction and administration of production and import-export policies of all levels of government in a practical and effective manner.
The survey content of the FTA Index focuses on four main aspects: FTA propaganda and dissemination; Implementation of legal regulations on FTA; Support policies to improve competitiveness; Implementation of commitments on sustainable development.
At the FTA Index Announcement Ceremony, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh awarded Certificates of Merit to 5 provinces and cities with good achievements in evaluating the implementation results of the FTA Index in 2024. Leaders of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs awarded Certificates of Merit to 8 provinces and cities with Good results, 14 provinces with Fair results in evaluating the implementation results of the FTA Index in 2024; 4 provinces and cities with the Best results for the component indexes.
With a score of 30.53 points, Quang Ninh province ranked 13th out of 63 provinces and cities nationwide and was in the group of localities with Good results in assessing the results of implementing Free Trade Agreements (FTA Index) in 2024.
Speaking at the announcement ceremony, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh affirmed that in the context of globalization and increasingly deep international economic integration, Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) have become a mainstream trend to promote trade exchange between countries. Currently, the Government is continuing to negotiate with many countries and regions around the world to diversify supply chains and expand export markets. With its responsibilities and roles, each locality must constantly promote the spirit of self-reliance; build long-term integration plans; pay attention to reducing at least 30% of time and costs for handling administrative procedures to facilitate people and businesses, creating an open investment environment.
Quoc Thang
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