Proposed solutions to overcome difficulties and promote export growth

DNVN - At the conference on connecting trade and promoting exports in Da Nang 2025 on October 2, Deputy Director of the Trade Promotion Agency (Ministry of Industry and Trade) Le Hoang Tai proposed solutions to promote Vietnam's export growth in the current context.

Impressive growth but many challenges

Mr. Le Hoang Tai said that according to the WTO (August 8, 2025), global trade will only increase by 0.9% in 2025, much lower than the forecast of 2.7% at the beginning of the year. Although US imports in the first 6 months of the year increased by 11%, the World Trade Organization said this was just a phenomenon of "tax evasion", not reflecting a sustainable trend.

Deputy Director of the Trade Promotion Agency ( Ministry of Industry and Trade ) Le Hoang Tai spoke at the conference.

Notably, the geopolitical and military situation in the world continues to evolve in a complex manner; strategic competition between major economies is increasingly fierce; global consumer demand recovers slowly and unsustainably while trade protectionism increases... These are significant challenges facing Vietnam's export activities.

However, the country's total export turnover in the first 8 months of 2025 still reached nearly 305 billion USD, an increase of 14.4% over the same period in 2024. This is an impressive growth rate in the context of the uncertain global economy, demonstrating the great efforts of the business community and the initial effectiveness of the Government's drastic directions.

This result is thanks to Vietnam maintaining a positive economic growth momentum, stable macro-economy, and controlled inflation. The advantage of the network of 17 FTAs, including new generation agreements such as CPTPP, EVFTA, and RCEP, opens up opportunities for Vietnam to access large-scale markets. At the same time, the Vietnamese business community is increasingly dynamic, able to quickly adapt to market trends and new requirements.

“However, we must also frankly admit that the internal strength of the economy is still limited, labor productivity, technological level, and the ability to participate deeply in the global value chain are still modest. The majority of export enterprises are still small and medium-sized enterprises, lacking information, lacking resources to invest in innovation, lacking skills in marketing and building international brands,” said Mr. Le Hoang Tai.

According to Mr. Tai, August 2025 exports show that Vietnam's trade picture has certain bright spots, but also many challenges. In particular, the export structure is still inclined towards processing and assembly; the proportion of goods with high added value, technology and innovation content in exports is still quite modest. This makes profit margins low, vulnerable to external fluctuations, and most of the added value of the product chain is still outside of Vietnam.

Trade promotion linked to key markets

The Trade Promotion Agency said that currently, the budget for trade promotion activities at the central, local, industry association and individual enterprise levels is still limited. Due to limited financial resources, many trade promotion programs are only organized on a small scale, short-term, lacking continuity and depth, leading to the development of new markets, especially potential markets, not achieving the expected results.

Trade connection activities, export promotion within the framework of the conference.

“The lack of funding has also resulted in the work of building national brands and industry brands not receiving adequate investment. As a result, the competitiveness of Vietnamese goods in the international market is not really sustainable, the potential from new-generation free trade agreements has not been fully exploited, and incentives have not been effectively utilized to expand market share and increase export value,” said Mr. Le Hoang Tai.

In that context, he recommended the need to implement diverse and effective trade promotion programs (XTTM) with increasingly specialized scale for each industry, linked to key markets of the EU, US, China, Japan, Korea, ASEAN, India, Middle East, Africa, Latin America. At the same time, focus on exploiting emerging markets and niche markets, notably Halal countries, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE, Brazil, North Africa, etc.

Focus on promoting trade promotion for high-tech industries, especially semiconductors, artificial intelligence, automation, machinery - equipment, components and renewable energy, to bring Vietnamese goods deeper into global high-value supply chains. Implement plans to expand the network of Vietnamese Trade Promotion Offices in key markets, considering them as the frontline force to directly support businesses.

Focus on applying technology, digital transformation and green transformation in trade promotion activities; promote online trade connection activities, Vietnamese national booths on major domestic and foreign e-commerce platforms, and local product promotion programs on digital platforms.

At the same time, coordinate with e-commerce platforms to deploy cross-border e-commerce models, provide special support for small and medium-sized enterprises, cooperatives, craft villages and local production facilities; promote training and fostering of skills in digital technology, big data analysis, and artificial intelligence for the business community, helping businesses improve their competitiveness and participate deeply in the global value chain.

Mr. Le Hoang Tai also recommended continuing to promote the role of key national trade promotion events such as Vietnam Food Expo, Vietnam International Sourcing... Especially implementing the Prime Minister's direction dated September 3, 2025 on organizing annual national industrial, trade and consumer goods fairs at the Vietnam Fair Center.

Hai Chau

Source: https://doanhnghiepvn.vn/kinh-te/kien-nghi-giai-phap-vuot-kho-thuc-day-tang-truong-xuat-khau/20251002055454528