The Da Nang Steering Board of Trade Facilitation has made its debut and held the first meeting to introduce the operation of the Trade Facilitation Programme funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID TFP).

The event aimed to collect opinions from the business community - the main beneficiaries of the USAID TFP- on specific solutions and tasks to support firms to operate effectively in the coming time.

Speaking at the event, Da Nang People's Committee Vice Chairman cum Head of the city’s Steering Board for Trade Facilitation, Tran Phuoc Son assessed, Da Nang is one of the six Vietnamese localities to have been selected to pilot the establishment of a local-level TFP mechanism. This has offered an opportunity to Da Nang to create a mechanism, promote import and export activities, help businesses save time and costs and create favourable conditions for them to overcome difficulties amid still complicated COVID-19 surge.

In the coming time, the Steering Board, with the support of the USAID TFP, will contribute to enhancing the business environment and the city's competitiveness index, and set a bright example of building up local trade facilitation mechanism for other provinces and cities nationwide to follow.

In particular, the implementation of the USAID TFP activities will be one of the major contents in the city ‘s post-pandemic economic recovery plan.

The USAID TFP has a total capital of more than US$21.7 million is being implemented from 2018 – 2023. The programme aims to support the Vietnamese government to adopt a risk management approach to customs and specialised inspection agencies. USAID TFP helps strengthen the implementation of the World Trade Organisation’s Trade Facilitation Agreement, of which both Viet Nam and the United States are members, thereby assisting Viet Nam in achieving its development objectives while reducing the time and cost to trade.

Under the USAID TFP, focus is on supporting the standardisation of policies and procedures for exports and imports, strengthening national and provincial coordination, and building the capacity of provincial customs officers. This will help Viet Nam develop a more attractive and predictable trade and investment climate for domestic small and medium-sized enterprises as well as international traders and investors.

Reporting by QUYNH TRANG- Translating by A. THU