Expected to go live at the end of March, the VNTR will be a free-to-access online portal that will provide all the latest trade information in both English and Vietnamese.

The roadshows were attended (both online and in person) by representatives from Ministries, trade associations, industrial parks, city investment promotion agencies, the broader business community from across various sectors, UK companies in Viet Nam, the various international chambers of commerce represented in Viet Nam and relevant educational institutions.

Speaking at the event, Mr Luong Hoang Thai, Director General of the Multilateral Trade Policy Department, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of (MoIT), emphasized that the establishment of the Viet Nam National Trade Repository (VNTR) is to fulfil Viet Nam’s commitment within ASEAN to improve the transparency of trade policies and regulations, facilitate regional trade, and support business community in gaining easier access to information about Viet Nam’s commitments on trade in goods, trade in services and investment under ASEAN cooperation framework, thereby helping businesses be more proactive in business strategy development and enhancing their competitiveness during the course of Viet Nam’s building ASEAN Economic Community with other member countries.

Representing the UK Government, who are funding the project, HM Consul General Mr. Oliver Todd said: “The National Trade Repository is a resource that the British government is proud to have supported, one which enables SME and micro businesses to access the information they need to take advantage of trading in Vietnam’s dynamic market. Clear, readily accessible information is crucial in encouraging more businesses to trade internationally and to driving economic development.”

Mr. Trevor O’Regan, Team Leader for the VNTR project, concluded by speaking about the sustainability of the VNTR: “The VNTR will be a central repository designed to provide access to all regulations and relevant trade facilitation information. It will provide transparency and clarity on information which businesses need to comply with when they seek to trade. It will be a free-to-access online information platform that provides all the latest trade regulations and information that businesses need to export and import to and from Viet Nam when it goes live. In the medium-term, sustainability is the paramount concern for the VNTR. It is essential that information provided by the VNTR is both comprehensive and kept up to date and also that the VNTR is promoted widely to potential users of this free online source in both English and Vietnamese ''.

The UK’s Global Trade Programme is supporting the Ministry of Industry and Trade to develop the Viet Nam National Trade Repository (VNTR). VNTR will be linked to the ASEAN Trade Repository (//atr.asean.org), ensuring the information transparency compliance as stated in Article 13 of the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA). VNTR is expected to go live in March 2022. UNCTAD (www.unctad.org) is also a partner on the project providing support in the area of Non-Tariff Measures (NTMs).