VietNamNet Bridge - ‘Vietnamese goods are defined as products manufactured, assembled in Vietnam and services implemented in the Vietnamese territory, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT).

Vo Van Quyen, director of the MOIT’s Domestic Market Department, made the statement to Vietnam News Agency. 

Quyen said that the definition can be found in official documents for the ‘Buy Vietnamese’ campaign released in November 2012. 

‘Vietnamese goods’ are products made in Vietnam and services provided in Vietnamese territory, not products imported from other countries.

Meanwhile, ‘Vietnamese brand goods’ are products with trademarks and brands owned and registered by enterprises in Vietnamese territory. The trademarks and brands must have Vietnamese origin.

When asked to clarify if Samsung’s products are listed as ‘Vietnamese goods’, the representative from MOIT said all the products made by foreign invested enterprises in the Vietnamese territory will be considered ‘Vietnamese goods’.

The definition about ‘Vietnamese goods’ has been a topic of debate among economists and analysts.

Some economists said ‘Vietnamese goods’ should be understood as ‘products made by Vietnamese enterprises’. And if the definition is accepted, the number of ‘Vietnamese goods’ will be ‘so modest that they can be counted on one’s fingers’.

Bui Trinh, a renowned economist, said that it was more profitable for FIEs to set up factories in Vietnam and assemble products from imported components than make products in their home countries and export to Vietnam, because they can enjoy investment incentives in Vietnam and a cheap labor force.

An analyst commented that it was unreasonable to consider the products made by foreign invested enterprises as ‘Vietnamese goods’ because the ‘Vietnamese content’ in the products is very modest.

He cited a report as saying that though export turnover from foreign invested enterprises is high, the added value just accounts for 18 percent of the total value.

Regarding the role played by foreign invested enterprises in the national economy, the report showed that the enterprises make up 15-19 percent of the state budget’s total receipts from domestic sources, far below state-owned enterprises which make up over 30 percent.

He has asked authorities to rethink the ‘Vietnamese goods’ concept. 

“It would be better to stipulate that products must have certain levels of domestic content to be able to be considered ‘Vietnamese goods’,” he said.

‘We should not waste money to promote the sale of products made by foreign invested enterprises in Vietnam, which in fact, are foreign-made products,” he said.

Dat Viet