Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh fields questions at a question-and-answer session on November 6 - PHOTO: VGP

Minister Anh fielded questions on market management, trade fraud control, competition management and consumer protection at a question-and-answer session on November 6 during the ongoing sitting of the National Assembly (NA), the Government news site reported.

Answering a question from NA deputy Pham Van Hoa from Dong Thap Province on solutions to address imports from China that display the unfounded nine-dash line, Anh noted that the ministry had acted on the news immediately to resolve the situation.

For example, the car displaying a GPS map with the illegal nine-dash line at the Vietnam Motor Show 2019 in HCMC last month was impounded. In addition, the ministry has coordinated with other relevant agencies to impose fines on the car importer and exhibitor.

As for the batch of seven imported vehicles with a navigation app featuring the illegal nine-dash line, the importer’s activities have been suspended and the vehicles have been seized.

According to the minister, the ministries of Industry and Trade; Finance; Culture, Sports and Tourism; and Information and Communications need to continue reviewing all imported products to prevent similar cases from happening in the future.

Fight against trade fraud

Deputy Hoa also enquired about the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s responsibility in preventing the production and trade of counterfeit products and those of low quality or unclear origins. Chinese goods bearing made-in-Vietnam labels have been exported to other markets, such as the United States and the European Union, posing a high risk to genuine Vietnamese products.

In response, Minister Anh stated that Vietnam has integrated deeply with the global market. Trade deals have brought multiple tax incentives for the country, raising its competitiveness.

However, many products imported from China, such as aluminum, electronics, footwear, textiles, garments and wooden products, have been transported to Vietnam for re-export to enjoy preferential tax policies.

Since 2016, the Government and the Ministry of Industry and Trade have been aware of the risk. The ministry has coordinated with the relevant ministries and agencies to address the problem.

The Government has also issued a plan to prevent origin fraud, with five main tasks issued to the competent agencies.

Development of supporting industries

Anh pointed out that the country has issued many policies to support the development of supporting industries. However, these sectors have yet to develop as strongly as expected.

He attributed the problem to the dependence of supporting industries on imported products.

Moreover, the deployment of preferential policies for supporting industries has been ineffective.

Most supporting industries enterprises are small and medium sized, so they find it hard to access credit and technology for development.

Under the directive of the prime minister, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has adopted a resolution on the development of supporting industries with new preferential policies and solutions that make use of opportunities from new-generation free trade agreements. Moreover, the ministry will focus on developing innovation centers for supporting industries. SGT

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