FOREIGN TRADE UNIVERSITY

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SUBJECT: TRADE FACILITATION
TOPIC: THE EVFTA: VIETNAM AND TRADE
FACILITATION FOR
THE SEAFOOD SECTOR - AN ANALYSIS

Member:

Nguyễn Kim Sơn – 1810140058
Vũ Hà Phương – 1811140094
Đỗ Thị Phương Thảo - 1811140096
Trần Hồng Quân – 1810140056
Nguyễn Xuân Thành – 1811140095
Nguyễn Quỳnh Chi – 1810140011

Class:

International Business Economics (Advanced Class)

Lecturer:

Ph.D. Pham Thanh Ha

Ha Noi, October 2021


Table of Contents
Introduction.........................................................................................................................................1

Part 1: Theoretical framework...........................................................................................................1
1.1. THE DEFINITION AND MECHANICS OF FTAS AND EVFTA:...................................1
1.2. THE PROSPECTS OF VIETNAM - EU’S TRADE RELATIONS:..................................2
Part 2: Vietnam’s seafood and fisheries sector’s current state of play when implementing the
EVFTA.................................................................................................................................................2
2.1. OVERVIEW OF VIETNAM’S SEAFOOD EXPORTS AND IMPORTS WITH THE
EU:..................................................................................................................................................2
2.1.1. Exports:.............................................................................................................................2
2.1.2. Export markets and forms of seafood export....................................................................2
2.1.3. The competitiveness of Vietnam's seafood products in the EU market............................3
2.2. EVALUATION OF VIETNAM’S SEAFOOD EXPORTS TO THE EU, IN LIGHT OF
THE EVFTA:.................................................................................................................................4
2.2.1. Achievements:...................................................................................................................4
2.2.2. Limitations:.......................................................................................................................4
2.3.1. Provisional opportunities:.................................................................................................5
2.3.2. Provisional threats.............................................................................................................6
3.1. MACROECONOMIC SOLUTIONS:..................................................................................7
3.1.1. Enhancing the performance of supporting industries:......................................................7
3.1.2. Continuous provision of market information:...................................................................8
3.1.3. Completing and perfecting the legal environment:...........................................................8
3.2. MICRO SOLUTIONS:..........................................................................................................9
3.2.1. Promoting trade facilitation activities:..............................................................................9
3.2.2. Strengthening the cooperation between businesses and farmers:.....................................9
3.2.3. Developing human resources:...........................................................................................9
3.2.4. Properly implementing regulations to trace the origins of seafood................................10
Conclusion.........................................................................................................................................10
References..........................................................................................................................................11


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Introduction
The 21st century - the century of industrialization, modernization, and opening up of
markets - has seen the whole world begin to catch up more and more with modern trends: Being
dynamic, connected, cooperative and mutually developed together. Recognizing the utmost
importance of the current trend of globalization, Vietnam has been transforming, increasingly
renewing under the leadership of the Party and State, so that it can quickly take measures to keep up
with the times with sustainable development, tightening international relations, in order to optimally
support and receive support from countries. To do that, Vietnam has been making great efforts to
overcome barriers and trade regulations, participating in the act of signing documents and joining
major commercial organizations in the world, such as the ASEAN, the WTO, the APEC, etc.
Despite all that, it is next to impossible to mention Vietnam’s efforts in opening its markets without
the EVFTA - one of the most important agreements, paving the way for Vietnam's economy later on
the path of opening up and integrating into the world.
One particularly crucial economic sector that Vietnam hopes to reinforce is the seafood and
fisheries sector. In recent years, the seafood industry has always been paid special attention by the
State and focused on development in many aspects. Seafood exports not only serve the increasing
needs of people, but also help the country curb unemployment, contribute to the national budget,
create favorable conditions for economic development, as well as the development of related
industries. Vietnam's seafood export industry is increasingly asserting its position in the world
economy. Currently, the EU is a key and long-term strategic market. This is also an opportunity for
Vietnam's seafood industry to thrive in Europe.
Part 1: Theoretical framework
1.1. THE DEFINITION AND MECHANICS OF FTAS AND EVFTA:
In the traditional viewpoint, according to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
GATT 1947, article XXIV, a FTA is defined as “a pact between two or more nations to reduce
barriers to imports and exports among them. Under a free trade policy, goods and services can be
bought and sold across international borders with little or no government tariffs, quotas, subsidies,
or prohibitions to inhibit their exchange”.
The EVFTA (European - Vietnam Free Trade Agreement) is a free trade agreement

between Vietnam and 27 European countries. Not only eliminating more than 99% of customs
duties on goods, the agreement also opens the Vietnamese market to EU companies and strengthens
the protection of EU and Vietnamese investments.
The EVFTA Agreement officially took effect on August 1, 2020, opening up great
opportunities and prospects, this is also a particularly important time for the comprehensive
cooperative partnership between Vietnam and the EU.
Besides the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership
(CPTPP), the EVFTA Agreement is an important new generation free trade agreement that Vietnam
participates in. The conclusion of the negotiation, signing and ratification of the agreement is a long
way with the efforts, efforts and determination of Vietnam with the goal of raising the bilateral trade
relationship between Vietnam and the EU to a high altitude.


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1.2. THE PROSPECTS OF VIETNAM - EU’S TRADE RELATIONS:
As a matter of fact, at the moment the EU economy is facing public debt crises. Therefore,
it is possible that the economic relations of the two sides will also be somewhat negatively affected.
The relationship between the two sides in the coming time will depend a lot on the EU's ability to
solve their current problems. In addition, the public debt crisis also poses many new problems in
thinking about Vietnam's approach to the EU market in this context. Future trade disputes will take
place in both quantity as well as diversity in form, fierce in competitive nature, showing a new
balance when Vietnam's economy is gradually developing. Production capacity to supply goods is
also increasing accordingly to meet the strict and difficult EU market, requiring high technical
standards.
An extremely great benefit to emphasize is that developing trade with the EU will help
Vietnam access modern technology and equipment, as well as receive more training in labor
qualifications, skills, serving the national construction to become an industrialized country. In the
coming time, trade with the EU and Vietnam will continue to maintain the nation’s trade surplus. As
for enterprises and large investors from Europe, Vietnam is currently a potential market with great

purchasing power, an economy with high growth rate in recent years compared to the region.
Part 2: Vietnam’s seafood and fisheries sector’s current state of play when
implementing the EVFTA.
2.1. OVERVIEW OF VIETNAM’S SEAFOOD EXPORTS AND IMPORTS WITH
THE EU:
2.1.1. Exports:
Currently, Vietnam is ranked among the largest countries in Asia and in terms of seafood
exports. According to the report of VASEP, Vietnam's seafood exports have been present in 170
markets around the world, of which still focus on 3 main markets: the US, EU and Japan. These
three markets account for 50% to 60% of Vietnam's annual seafood export turnover. In 2020, these
three markets still continue to account for about 50% of Vietnam's total seafood export turnover.
In terms of export proportions, seafood to the EU has always accounted for a stable rate of
17%-26% of Vietnam's total annual seafood export turnover. In the period of 2009-2011, the
seafood export industry accounted for nearly 10% of Vietnam's total export turnover to the EU and
in the 2012-2020 period, the fisheries industry accounted for 3%-5% of the total export turnover of
Vietnam's goods to the EU. According to new statistics, however, in 2021, Exports to major markets
were all reduced, of which exports to the EU decreased the most by 40%. These are alarming
numbers for Vietnam's seafood, reminding seafood exports to the EU that there are signs of a
decrease and it is necessary to take measures to support and promptly change the export situation in
this difficult period.
2.1.2. Export markets and forms of seafood export
2.1.2.1. Export markets:
Among the 27 EU countries, Vietnam's main export markets are: Germany, Spain, Italy,
France and the Netherlands.
Since the 2000s, Vietnam has promoted export promotion to the EU and so far has
expanded to all 27 EU countries, of which there are 4 traditional markets with the largest market


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share, namely Germany, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands. In the period of 2015-2020, with the
significant support of the EVFTA, these four markets always account for nearly 50% of Vietnam's
seafood export turnover to the EU. While the markets of Germany, Spain and Italy tend to decrease
slightly in proportion, the Netherlands still tends to increase. Besides, in recent years, France,
Belgium and Portugal have also emerged as markets with positive turnover growth. Along with
continuing to maintain relationships with traditional markets, Vietnamese businesses have also
begun to turn to exploit this potential market.
2.1.2.2. Forms of seafood export:
The method of Vietnam's seafood export to the EU mainly has two forms: Direct export
and export through intermediary agents.
Regarding the direct export channel, Vietnamese seafood enterprises only focus on
approaching importers but have not directly approached retailers and supermarkets. Because they
have not penetrated deeply into the retail channel, businesses lack information about the market or
receive little direct feedback from consumers, thereby failing to promptly change and invest in
production to adapt to demand. market demand.
In addition, for businesses that are not yet eligible to build their own distribution network,
they have chosen to use intermediaries, which are Viet Kieu's trading companies in the EU or
through third-country brokers such as: Hong Kong and Singapore. Although this form helps
businesses quickly access the market and reduce risks, on the contrary, it makes Vietnamese
businesses highly dependent on intermediary partners, not proactive in establishing their own
distribution network, even with the current support of the EVFTA.
2.1.3. The competitiveness of Vietnam's seafood products in the EU market
- Pricing: Pangasius products, bivalve molluscs and vannamei shrimp are Vietnam's export
seafood products that have good competitiveness in the EU market in terms of price. In fact, the
price of Vietnamese pangasius products has a competitive advantage compared to other white meat
in the EU such as Vietnam's low labor costs and the large scale of pangasius farming. Compared to
other countries in the world, Vietnam is leading the supply capacity and production output of
pangasius, accounting for nearly 50% of the world production per year. The large-scale production
creates a better competitive advantage for Vietnam compared to other countries as the price of
Vietnamese pangasius is very cheap.

- Quality: To date, there are about 200 shrimp processing plants approved by the European
Commission with periodic field inspections right here in Vietnam. Vietnam is also one of the
countries with many shrimp farming areas achieving ASC and BAP certificates in the world. In fact,
European countries have a high demand for responsible and certified products, and the fact that
Vietnam has many shrimp farming areas with ASC and GlobalGap certification is a major factor
that helps Vietnamese shrimp compete in quality with other products on the market. In addition,
recently, Vietnam has also put the method of ecological shrimp farming in mangrove forests into
mass application to increase the output of exported ecological aquatic products, the competitiveness
of Vietnamese shrimp in the world market will be much higher than before.
- Market share: Vietnam has gradually established its position in the world seafood market.
In 2000, Vietnam ranked only 11th among the seafood exporting countries in the world, 5th in Asia


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and 3rd in Southeast Asia, after Thailand (the exporting country of aquatic product) and Indonesia
(10th). By 2020, Vietnam's position in the world seafood market has improved a lot, rising to the
4th position among the world's seafood exporting countries. That proves the outstanding
development of Vietnam's seafood industry and the competitiveness of Vietnamese seafood
products on the world market has been much improved than before. Furthermore, in the past few
years, Vietnam has a number of frozen seafood products that are quite stable for export to Sweden
and the Nordic region, such as: Pangasius fillet, black tiger shrimp, red snapper and mollusk
seafood. Particularly, Vietnam's pangasius product has recently had a stable and dominant position
in the Nordic market. Besides, with the diversity in aquatic resources, Vietnam has taken advantage
of this advantage to export a variety of products to the European market, in which the main products
are pangasius and shrimp.
2.2. EVALUATION OF VIETNAM’S SEAFOOD EXPORTS TO THE EU, IN
LIGHT OF THE EVFTA:
2.2.1. Achievements:
Thanks in large part to the EVFTA, in recent years, the proportion of Vietnam's seafood

exports to the EU has continuously increased in terms of both value and output. Output increased
from 345 thousand tons in 2009 to 416 thousand tons in 2015 and 467 thousand tons in 2020. The
value of Vietnam's seafood exports to the EU also continuously increased by over $1,133 million in
2011 and up to $1,247 million in 2020.
Besides these achievements, the EVFTA have also helped with trade facilitation for
Vietnamese seafood exports to the EU, yielding the country considerable results in overcoming
trade barriers such as:
- In terms of tariffs: Since the EU allowed Vietnamese seafood to enjoy the EVFTA's
preferential regime, we have always met the EU's conditions for the country enjoying this regime
and are always on the list of priority countries of the EU.
- Regarding meeting the EU’s technical standards: Despite the strict control of the EU food
authority and pressure from the IUU yellow card, the export turnover of Vietnamese seafood still
tends to increase, bringing seafood to the leading position among food products imported into the
EU, also bringing the country a large source of foreign currency. The quality of Vietnam's seafood
products is constantly being improved, investment in upgrading infrastructure for aquaculture and
fishing is always renewed, seafood processing technology meets HACCP standards and is always
maintained.
- Regarding the dumping of seafood products: Unlike the case with the US market,
Vietnamese seafood in the EU market is very little and there are almost no dumping lawsuits. Partly
due to the large demand for seafood imports from the EU market, the EU usually does not use antidumping measures as a commercial or political retaliation like the US. Besides, Vietnamese seafood
products are exported to the EU at reasonable prices and many varieties have quite high competitive
advantages such as shrimp, pangasius and basa fish. Seafood products imported from Vietnam have
almost no impact on EU domestic products, so they are usually not sued for dumping. This is also
an advantage of Vietnamese seafood products in the EU market.


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2.2.2. Limitations:
Besides a myriad of achievements that the EVFTA have brought, there are still many

limitations that hinder the promotion of Vietnam's seafood exports to the EU market:
- Vietnam's seafood market share still accounts for a small market share although export
turnover to the EU has continuously increased. When there are large-scale orders, Vietnamese
enterprises still miss orders because the number of large enterprises is not really many, financial
constraints, low labor productivity and input materials for products unstable output
- In terms of production and processing, seafood products are exported a lot, but the quality
is not high, that's why the value of Vietnamese seafood products in the EU market is not high. The
selling price of Vietnam's seafood products compared to other countries in the region or the world is
much lower, so the total export value is not high, not true to the real value of those products.
- In terms of fishing and aquaculture, the fisheries sector has not yet fully taken advantage
of the country's potential yet. Currently, the field of aquaculture still accounts for a relatively low
proportion compared to other sectors, there is still a lot of wasted land and waters, which has not
been fully exploited, the efficiency of aquaculture is not high. Our country's fishing means are very
poor and outdated, there are few means of offshore fishing, the fishing means are low in volume, so
the economic efficiency is not high.
- Regarding the search for markets in the EU for seafood products, businesses have not
focused on marketing for their products, but mainly in the form of processing or exporting raw
products without a focus on image and brand building. Therefore, EU customers do not understand
much and know well enough about the quality and brand of Made in Vietnam seafood products.
2.3. CURRENT OPPORTUNITIES AND THREATS FOR SEAFOOD EXPORTS
REGARDING THE APPLICATION OF THE EVFTA:
2.3.1. Provisional opportunities:
a/ Continuing to promote exports to the EU:
Through the EVFTA agreement, Vietnamese seafood exporters have conditions to access
the large European market with more than 500 million people. According to Mutrap's forecast, with
the continued application of the EVFTA in about 2-3 years, Vietnam's GDP can increase by
0.5%/year and exports by 5-6%. This is a good opportunity for Vietnam's seafood industry to
develop trade with the EU.
The elimination of tariffs will still create a huge price advantage for seafood products when
competing with competitors from other developing countries without an FTA with the EU,

including India, Thailand, and the Philippines and Indonesia. In addition to the benefits from tariffs,
another benefit that EVFTA brings to Vietnam to facilitate seafood exports to the EU is the
unification in the field of Customs management between the EU and Vietnam to facilitate trade.
trade and transparency in understanding and applying non-tariff barriers. Both parties are committed
to ensuring that EU customs procedures and processes will be transparent, accurate and faster. Here,
the EU will allow the application of a single window, a single set of customs documents. This is
especially important for commodities like seafood, which are generally subject to more paperwork
in customs than industrial goods.


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b/ Increasing investment attraction in farming, mining and processing seafood:
The EVFTA has brought Vietnam great expectations to attract FDI into Vietnam's seafood
industry, thereby creating a driving force to expand and make full use of the development potential
of export seafood. This is a great opportunity for Vietnam's seafood because in the current context,
FDI investment in the seafood industry is very limited and not commensurate with the development
potential of seafood.
The scale of FDI investment in seafood is not large. Currently, investment projects in
fisheries are still only on a small scale, averaging just over 7 million USD/project compared to the
general average of 12.4 million USD/project. Among 18 countries investing FDI in Vietnamese
seafood, it is mainly concentrated in 5 countries: Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, Japan and China.
Not many European Union investors invest in Vietnam's seafood sector on a large scale, although
the EVFTA is being applied.
In fact, the countries in the EU have strong capacity and advantages in high-tech seafood
such as the Netherlands, Germany, and Iceland. By investing in Vietnam's seafood sector, EU
countries will benefit greatly. It is these benefits that will be a strong motivation to encourage
European countries to pour more capital into our seafood industry.
c/ Contributing to the improvement of the quality of exported seafood:
As one of the superpowers in seafood production and export with many strengths such as

climate, extensive and rich aquaculture resources (a coastline of nearly 3,260 km, an exclusive
economic zone of more than 1 million USD) km2 and a large area of freshwater and brackish
water), diversity of aquatic resources, even some aquatic products that are difficult for European
countries to cultivate, but due to inefficient methods, aquatic products Vietnamese products are
mainly exported in rudimentary form. The processing value is not much, leading to low
competitiveness compared to other competitors such as Thailand, China, the Philippines and
Indonesia. Quality improvement is always the point that Vietnamese seafood needs to focus on.
Strict requirements, strict quality, food safety standards and animal quarantine will be the
mandatory requirements of our seafood. It will be the driving force for seafood businesses and the
whole Vietnamese seafood industry to improve, eliminate weaknesses and change and reform to
achieve EU standards. If it does not change, it means that the business will remove itself from the
game and succumb to other competitors. If the product quality is successfully improved, the export
turnover will increase and the economic benefits will be huge.
2.3.2. Provisional threats
a/ Fierce competition in the EU seafood market:
The EU is a big market with per capita seafood consumption up to 24.35kg/person and
import turnover in 2019 is 12.9 million tons, of which 62.5% is imported seafood. With such
consumption and market size, there are many countries promoting seafood exports to the EU, so
Vietnam will have to compete fiercely with many other competitors.
For example, in terms of shrimp exports to the EU, Vietnam's two competitors in the
processed shrimp segment are Indonesia and Thailand. High cost is a big disadvantage of the
shrimp industry, as it reduces the competitiveness of Vietnamese shrimp compared to other
countries. This is the general situation, although the level of shrimp farming of Vietnamese farmers


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is not inferior to other countries, because most of the input costs (seedlings, feed, etc) are very high.
The cost of shrimp farming in Vietnam is often 20-30% higher, despite being exempted from tariffs
from the EVFTA.

b/ Challenges from complying with and enforcing the provisions of the EVFTA:
While the EVFTA has given Vietnam quite an edge in exports, Vietnam itself has found a
number of difficulties regarding the provisions in the Agreement:
- Rules of origin: The rules of origin requirement is one of the main challenges that
Vietnam still has to overcome. Even if the product is made in Vietnam, EU importers may not
necessarily recognize that origin because Vietnamese products in general are highly dependent on
imported materials. For raw seafood imported into Vietnam to process goods for export to the EU,
the Anti-Fraud Agency of the European Commission (OLAP) has also said that there are 2 risks:
Either the material originates from other countries. farming areas have not met disease control
standards; or raw material suppliers choose Vietnam as a transshipment and primary processing
country to avoid higher tax rates when exporting to the EU.
- Food safety regulations: The export of Vietnamese seafood and then being returned
has happened many times, not only causing damage to businesses but also affecting the overall
reputation of Vietnamese seafood. In 2018 alone, there were about 80 shipments of Vietnamese
seafood to the EU and import markets warned of poor quality and returned. The reason is that these
consignments do not meet the EU's food safety and hygiene requirements because they contain
substances in excess of the permissible limits or are banned for use in food. In order to meet strict
European food safety standards, Vietnamese seafood needs to improve its sanitary and
epidemiological measures in a more transparent and consistent manner.
- IUU regulations: Previously, due to limitations in potential, capacity to exploit
fishing grounds, management organization, and incorrect product declaration, there were mistakes
in fishing, and so on October 23, 2017, The EU officially gave a yellow card to Vietnam. Being
yellow card means that all Vietnamese seafood exported to the EU will be controlled 100%, while
before that control was probabilistic. If it is more serious, switching from yellow card to red card
means that 27 member countries in the EU will not import Vietnamese seafood anymore. Due to the
influence of the IUU "yellow card", 100% of containers destined for the EU are stopped by the
relevant authorities of your country, leading to a delay of up to 30 days, making the delivery
schedule late, causing many partners to turn back. to find suppliers in other markets
c/ Limited production capabilities:
The biggest inadequacy of the shrimp industry today is that the production is small, not

synchronized, so it has not met the conditions for increasing productivity and concentrated output to
promote linkages and increase the competitiveness of products.
Small farmers often lack production capital, have to buy inputs on credit, bear high interest
rates and do not have the opportunity to choose quality products, depending on agents. Many
farming areas have not been guaranteed infrastructure investment; technology in shrimp farming is
currently very limited, especially in extensive farming areas due to lack of investment attention,
leading to low productivity and low production efficiency.


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In addition, the abuse of drugs, chemicals, and injections of impurities into raw shrimp
remains. The low level of technology causes inadequate environmental control, besides the
requirements from the market and importers (quality, environment, labor, sustainable production,
social responsibility, etc.) are getting stricter and stricter.
Part 3: Solutions and future action for the implementation of the EVFTA for
Vietnam’s seafood sector
3.1. MACROECONOMIC SOLUTIONS:
3.1.1. Enhancing the performance of supporting industries:
Vietnam's seafood exports play an important role in the country's economy and include
many combined fields such as: aquaculture and fishing, seafood trade, seafood processing
technology, animal feed, etc. These activities are closely related to each other, so, to develop aquatic
products for export, it is necessary to plan for the comprehensive development of related supporting
industries.
Therefore, in order to promote seafood exports to the EU, the State needs to have solutions
to improve the capacity of supporting industries such as aquaculture, fishing, and the seafood
processing industry. Aquaculture area planning must be associated with the goal of sustainable
development and protection of ecological farming, comply with aquaculture regulations to ensure
the quality of input aquatic products, ensure production and stability. people's life. Planning
activities need to maximize the ecological advantages of Vietnam's fisheries sector; get detailed

plans and shape the development of aquaculture areas with specific investment projects in the
condition that they do not disrupt the planning for development of irrigation and sea dykes in the
deployment area.
3.1.2. Continuous provision of market information:
The reality is that many seafood exporters lack information about the international market;
not timely update the changes in the regulations of the importing country on hygiene and
epidemiology, technical barriers, rules of origin, etc. The lack of information of businesses leads to
some exporters having their goods returned or suspended from exporting because they do not
comply with export standards of EU countries. Therefore, ministries and sectors need to build a
detailed, specific and clear information network, strengthen updating and guiding regulations
related to seafood products exported to the EU in the EVFTA; Update the market records of 27 EU
countries to provide a reliable source of market research information for exporters to help them be
proactive in building a reasonable import and export plan and make good use of the market
mechanism.
In addition, the Directorate of Fisheries needs to have an investment plan to build and
develop a department specialized in market research in order to improve the quality of market
forecasting; promptly provide businesses and producers with the latest updates on the EU seafood
market on aspects such as prices, supply and demand relationships, consumption trends, market
fluctuations.
3.1.3. Completing and perfecting the legal environment:
The improvement of the legal system to make it easier for businesses to produce and
export seafood requires the participation of many functional agencies of different ministries such as


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the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. , Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Industry and
Trade.
The State and these ministries and agencies need to review legal documents governing
fisheries-related issues such as the law on fisheries, the law on foreign investment, the law on

encouraging domestic investment, and changing regulations that do not appropriate, avoiding
overlapping and conflicting regulations to create more open conditions for attracting foreign
investment and developing the fisheries sector. In addition, the Government needs to have specific
regulations and documents to guide businesses in properly complying with import standards on selfcertification of origin procedures, and guidelines on animal and plant quarantine procedures,
monitoring food hygiene and safety, checking antibiotic residues in aquaculture, managing aqua
feeds, applying VietGAP, EuroGAP, GlobalGAP standards to production.
3.2. MICRO SOLUTIONS:
3.2.1. Promoting trade facilitation activities:
Firstly, Vietnamese businesses need to step by step join the EU market distribution
channel. In the long term, in order to export seafood to the EU with the highest efficiency,
Vietnamese seafood enterprises should have a separate distribution system. However, it is a longterm plan because currently most businesses cannot afford the financial capacity and time is limited.
Therefore, in the immediate future, businesses can use the solution to link up with the Vietnamese
community in the EU to invest in the production, processing and export of seafood products that the
EU market is in demand. Both parties contribute capital to establish a joint venture. The Vietnamese
side with the advantage of labor, raw materials and factories will be responsible for production. The
foreign side with business acumen and available distribution channels will be responsible for the
sale of the goods. In this way, manufactured goods will be convenient in penetrating the distribution
channel on the EU market, and at the same time, meet the needs of this country's consumers well
and fast.
3.2.2. Strengthening the cooperation between businesses and farmers:
In order to have stable development, the cooperation between businesses and farmers is the
first priority. In the past years, there is a common situation in the seafood industry that businesses
lower the price of their products to attract more partners, and in order to make sure they are still
profitable, they turn to force up the purchase price. Raw materials make farmers lose money, leave
ponds, leave farms without stocking seeds and lead to an even more shortage of raw materials in the
country. When the raw materials are overpriced, the farming grows hot spontaneously, and without
planning, leads to oversupply. It can be said that the source of raw materials is vital for seafood
exporters, so businesses must ensure that they have an input supply that can meet both volume and
quality.
Enterprises must sign off-sale contracts with aquaculture farms, and at the same time help

farmers with farming techniques, selection of varieties, feed, veterinary medicine, disease control
and disease control. especially the technique of preserving raw materials after harvesting.
Aquaculture activities have a high-risk nature, so businesses must pay attention to signing contracts
with many suppliers to spread risks, avoid missing business opportunities and keep credibility with
customers even when there is a fluctuation and decrease in the supply of raw materials.


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3.2.3. Developing human resources:
In the seafood industry, most of them are small-scale enterprises, with low qualifications of
workers, so the issue of human resource development has received little attention. In order to
comply with the labor regulations of the EVFTA, as well as to improve the operational efficiency of
enterprises themselves, the issue of human resources development needs special attention.
Workers in the fishery industry are mostly unskilled workers, and their awareness of
occupational health protection is still very low, so enterprises must take a leading role in this regard.
Fishery enterprises must strictly comply with the State's regulations on occupational health and
safety, disseminate them to workers before hiring them to work, and conduct periodic health checks
for employees. individuals, organize delegations to regularly inspect the implementation of those
regulations and have re-sanctions for violations.
Also, fishery enterprises must have funds for the purpose of skill training workers,
cooperate with agencies and organizations to open periodical refresher courses in professional
knowledge and teach science and technology applications to people. The cooperation with
universities and colleges to bring students to visit and practice at enterprises will at the same time
contribute to creating a young workforce with good qualifications and ability to work in the seafood
industry in the future.
3.2.4. Properly implementing regulations to trace the origins of seafood
Good practice of traceability is a strategic solution to the EU IUU yellow card issue. To do
so, businesses need to invest in smart software applications such as I-tracing, cloud technology and
blockchain to manage production and digitize data in aquaculture such as: Seed management , pond

management, feeding management, growth management, harvesting etc.
Fishing vessel owners need to invest funds in installing cruise monitoring equipment, using
catch logging technology and electronic traceability (eCDT) proposed by the Directorate of
Fisheries. thereby helping authorities quickly trace the origin of caught seafood based on electronic
data instead of rudimentary paper logs as before. Thus, the application of 4.0 technology is one of
the effective solutions to meet the requirements of displaying product traceability information in
both depth and breadth through connecting managers, manufacturers, and suppliers. EU imports and
consumers.
Conclusion
After Singapore, Vietnam has become the second country in Southeast Asia to conclude
negotiations with the EU. The EVFTA is an important milestone in the roadmap to strengthen the
comprehensive and profound partnership, marking a long step forward, especially in the tradeinvestment relationship between Vietnam and the EU. It can be said that the free trade agreement
between Vietnam and the EU countries promises to open up many opportunities for Vietnamese
businesses and also contains many challenges. Especially, the main group of seafood products
exported to the EU has continuously grown in turnover, bringing great export benefits to Vietnam.
Vietnam's seafood industry has taken advantage of the industry's strengths such as an
abundant labor force with low costs, low input costs, favorable natural conditions, and a stable
investment environment in aquatic production. However, there are still limitations that make it
difficult to meet the requirements of the EVFTA. Typically, production and business activities are


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still small, having weak infrastructure, lacking in seed sources and high-quality input human
resources and information sources, poor forecasting capacity, and lacking attention to food hygiene
and safety. All of this has made the EVFTA unable to support Vietnam as much as it has been
predicted to be previously.
To overcome the problems faced by exported seafood, enterprises need to improve their
production and competitiveness, enhance technology transfer and strictly comply with regulations
on traceability; Industry associations must improve organizational capacity to perform well the role

of representatives, protect the interests of businesses in the international market and support
businesses in trade facilitation.


12

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