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The Government will spend around US$40 million this year to promote trade, foreign investment and tourism so as to create new momentum for achieving the economic growth target of 8.5% this year, a trade official said.
Ha Ke Tuan, deputy director of the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (Vietrade) under the Ministry of Trade, said the big sum would be spent to maintain the double-digit growth for the three sectors seen as the strong pillars of the economy.
The Government has targeted total export revenue this year of US$30.5-31 billion, international tourist arrivals at between 3.2 and 3.5 million, and foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow growth of 10%, Tuan said.
Last year, Vietnam earned US$26 billion in export revenue, welcomed 2.92 million foreign tourists, and attracted US$4.2 billion in foreign direct investment.
"Regarding trade promotion, we will focus resources on the export of Vietnam's mainstay products such as fish, apparel, footwear, furniture and handicraft products into traditional markets such as the EU, Japan, China and the U.S.," Tuan said.
In addition, Vietrade will also seek to help Vietnamese exporters penetrate new markets such as the Middle East and Africa, Tuan added.
Meanwhile, the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment has also outlined key programmes to promote the FDI inflow, according to Nguyen Anh Tuan, deputy director of the department.
Tuan said that more efforts would be made to lure investors from Europe and the U.S. rather than mainly from Asian countries as in previous years. Investment areas of priority will include high-tech industries, the supporting industry and the service sector, he stressed.
The method of investment promotion will also change, with most efforts vested with the Government and central agencies rather than allowing localities to organize FDI road shows for themselves.
Ha Ke Tuan of Vietrade said promotion activities this year would be organized in a more professional way with closer coordination among relevant agencies. "In the past years, promotion activities were not well organized as many of their functions were overlapping, while the role of media agencies was not brought into play in such activities," he said.
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