According to Nguyen Vu Kien, head of the International Relations Department under the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), ASEAN is a huge market that has been opened to all member countries.
To ensure transparency and equality for exporters and avoid conflicts, it is necessary to design a mechanism to support exporters to deal with problems facing them during the import-export process, he said.
According to Kien, the mechanism will help improve the operation efficiency of firms and trade relations among ASEAN countries, while harmonising the business environment in the whole region.
Introducing an ASEAN Portal funded by the European Union through ARISE Plus, Paul Mandl, head of the project, said that the ASSIST portal (assist.asean.org) provides information on legal regulations, criteria and measures to make their goods and services exporting process to the ASEAN market easier.
It also helps exporters react directly with authorities of ASEAN member countries and ask for consultations.
Paoplo R. Vergano, an expert from the ARISE Plus, said that the ASSIST will help businesses deal with issues related to tariff and non-tariff measures as well as investment in some areas, but it does not involve in the handling of disputes between employees and employers or complaints related to discrimination or cases settled by countries, as well as matters that are not relevant to trade, service and investment in ASEAN.
Nguyen Tuong, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Logistics Business Association, said that with the support of the ASSIST, Vietnamese firms can avoid problems during import-export activities at border gates and customs agencies.
Source: VNA