Ministry of Industry and Trade announces FTA Index of localities in 2024

Attending the event were comrades: Pham Minh Chinh - Politburo member, Prime Minister; Bui Thanh Son - Party Central Committee member, Deputy Prime Minister; leaders of central ministries and branches and representatives of embassies, international organizations and Vietnamese and international business associations.

Comrade Phung Thanh Vinh - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee chaired at Nghe An bridge point.

Since 2022, based on the Government's directives, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has developed a Project on the Index to assess the implementation results of FTAs ​​(FTA Index). This is a quantitative and systematic tool, built on the basis of a survey of enterprises in 63 provinces and cities across the country, which has been implemented and announced for the first time.

The FTA Index is a composite score of 4 component indexes on a 10-point scale and is combined into a 40-point scale. The 4 component indexes include: Level of access to information about FTAs ​​by enterprises; compliance with domestic legal regulations from FTA commitments; effectiveness of programs and policies to support enterprises in taking advantage of FTAs; and implementation of sustainable development commitments at the local level.

The results showed that the province with the highest overall score was 34.90 points, while the province with the lowest score only achieved 14.49 points.

The average value of the composite score is 26.20 points and the median value is 20.40 points. Accordingly, Ninh Binh is the province with the highest score with 8.3 points, followed in the Top 10 by the provinces of Quang Binh, Thanh Hoa, Ca Mau, Ha Giang, Quang Ninh, Thai Nguyen, Dien Bien, Long An and Bac Lieu.

Provinces outside the Top 10 with scores of 6 or higher are Khanh Hoa, Tra Vinh, Tien Giang, Hai Phong, Binh Duong, Ho Chi Minh City, Ben Tre, Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Kien Giang, Phu Yen, Dong Nai, Binh Dinh, Lam Dong, Quang Nam, Binh Thuan, Dak Lak, Can Tho and An Giang.

Nghe An ranked 33rd with a total score of 24.03.

At the announcement ceremony, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh awarded Certificates of Merit to 5 provinces and cities that have made achievements in evaluating the implementation results of the FTA Index Free Trade Agreements 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 good results in assessing the implementation results of the FTA Index 2024; 4 provinces and cities with the best results for the component indexes.

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.

Vietnam is an active participant in this process. These FTAs ​​bring many great benefits to the economy such as promoting export growth, expanding markets, attracting foreign investment, and improving the production capacity and competitiveness of Vietnamese enterprises. The commitments to reform and institutional transparency within the FTA framework also create motivation to improve the domestic business environment.

However, the implementation of FTAs ​​in Vietnam still faces many challenges. In that context, the Government has assigned the Ministry of Industry and Trade to develop a set of indicators to evaluate the implementation results of Free Trade Agreements (FTA Index).

FTA Index aims to provide a transparent and objective database for the Government, central and local agencies in directing, supervising and operating integration work; supporting localities in evaluating the results of FTA implementation according to the proposed action program. At the same time, this is the basis for planning policies and development strategies suitable to the conditions and potential of each locality.

The FTA Index aims to provide a transparent and objective database for the Government, central and local agencies in directing, supervising and operating integration work; supporting localities in evaluating the results of FTA implementation according to the proposed action program; at the same time, it is the basis for planning policies and development strategies suitable to the conditions and potentials of each locality, thereby improving the investment environment.

The implementation of the index is also one of the measures and the basis for the development strategy for Vietnam to strive to achieve the growth target of 8% in 2025, creating momentum, creating momentum, and becoming a high-income country...