Asean Economic Community to help Vietnam exporters: Experts

HO CHI MINH CITY, Apr 21 (Xinhua): Once formed in 2015, the Asean Economic Community (AEC) will bring both opportunities and challenges to Vietnamese exporters, according to experts.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The AEC marks the commitment of the Asean leaders to building and promoting a single market and production base, a highly competitive economic region tempered with equitable development, and a region fully integrated into the global economy.

The AEC would create greater opportunities for Vietnam to export goods and services to the Asean market, though local enterprises have faced many difficulties in production and business, said Vietnam's Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai.

According to data from the ministry, trade between Vietnam and other Asean member countries has quadrupled over the past decade, climbing to nearly US$40 billion in 2013 from $9.0 billion in 2003.

In 2013, Vietnam took in $18.47 billion from its exports to the bloc, the country's third largest importer only after the United States and the EU, which represented a rise of 4. 4 per cent from the previous year. In the first quarter of this year, the figure was estimated at $4.7 billion, a year- on-year increase of 6.4 per cent.