MoIT leader’s speech at the Expanded G7 Trade Ministers' Meeting

As stated by the Minister, for a developing country like Vietnam, trade liberalization is an important action and the main driving force for development. From a country that just came out of war and underdevelopment, after nearly 40 years, Vietnam has become one of the 40 largest economies in the world, ranking among the top 20 countries in terms of international trade, top 15 in terms of foreign investment attraction, and top 45 in terms of Innovation Index.

An overview of the Expanded G7 Trade Ministers Meeting

Additionally, Vietnam has consistently maintained relatively high and stable GDP growth, averaging 5.5 percent annually from 2021 to 2023, reaching 6.42 percent in the first half of 2024, with a projected annual growth of 6.5-7.0 percent.

According to the Minister, these achievements are attributed to Vietnam's consistent implementation of an independent, autonomous, diverse, and multilateral foreign policy; the country’s proactive, extensive, substantial and effective international integration; as well as the prioritization of internal strengths as fundamental, strategic, long-term, and decisive factors, and external resources as crucial breakthroughs.

Furthermore, Vietnam has been promoting the implementation of institutional reforms, infrastructure development, and human resources enhancement as the country’s strategic actions, while advancing science, technology and innovation-driven development.

From the perspective of a country that is integrating more and more deeply into the regional and global economies, according to Minister Dien, Vietnam believes that the world today needs genuine, substantive cooperation on several fronts:

Firstly, the Minister calls for more substantive and effective global partnerships and perseverence in multilateral cooperation. Minister Dien highly appreciates the Declaration of the G7 Trade Ministers Meeting in February this year on strengthening the rules-based, inclusive, free and fair multilateral trading system with the WTO at its center. Moreover, Vietnam supports the WTO in promoting discussions on key areas such as fisheries and agricultural subsidies.

Together with the G7, Minister Dien reaffirms Vietnam’s commitment to support all efforts and initiatives to reform monitoring, negotiation, and dispute settlement within the G7, as well as urging G7 countries to contribute more actively and effectively to resolving the deadlock of the Appellate Body (AB).

Secondly, amid the increasing trend of applying trade protection measures, subsidies, or erecting technical barriers to promote domestic production to replace imported goods, the Minister calls on the G7 and partners to immediately restrict the establishment of trade barriers, especially non-tariff measures that disrupt supply chains for essential goods.

Thirdly, the Minister calls for the collective establishment of resilient, flexible, and sustainable supply chains, which is the lifeline of every economy and plays a crucial role in ensuring the smooth flow of trade in goods and services. The Minister urges the respective parties to diversify supply sources and markets, invest in synchronized transportation infrastructure, adapt to climate change, and develope logistics services.

Minister Nguyen Hong Dien delivers a speech at the Expanded G7 Trade Ministers MeetingCurrently, the Minister wants Vietnam to cooperate with G7 members in the following aspects:

The first is supply chain diversification. Minister Dien expressed appreciation for G7 initiatives such as the G7 Sustainable Supply Chains Initiative in 2021; The Resilient Inclusive Supply Chain Enhancement (RISE) Partnership in 2023, and the establishment of a G7 Working Group on Transport Supply Chain in April this year.

For its part, Vietnam has signed and implemented 16 Free Trade Agreements (FTA); as well as in preparation to conclude negotiations on 3 additional FTAs ​​with partners in Europe, America and the Middle East. Most recently, Vietnam along with 13 partners have signed the Pillar II aggreement within the framework of the IPEF related to Supply Chain Resilience. With these mechanisms in place, Vietnamese enterprises have many advantages and opportunities to enhance cooperation with their G7 counterparts, in order to increasingly, deeply and effectively integrate into regional and global production and supply chains.

Second is synchronized, modern, climate-adaptive transportation infrastructure and logistics development. According to the Minister, the resources needed for developing transportation infrastructure are immense, while developing countries face significant limitations in terms of capital, technology, and management experience. On behalf of Vietnam, Minister Dien welcomes G7 initiatives such as the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII) and calls on the G7 to continue supporting developing countries through providing green finance and cooperating on strategic infrastructure development, particularly in transportation and technology.

Third is the technology innovation and digital transformation of supply chains. The Minister hopes that the G7 and its partners will further strengthen connectivity activities, technical support, and build practical capacities for training, scientific research, and technology transfer to help developing countries like Vietnam to enhance adaptive resilience and deepen their participation in global production and supply chains.

At the end of his speech, Minister Dien reaffirms Vietnam’s commitment to creating the most favorable conditions for G7 enterprises to invest, conduct long-term, stable, and effective business in the country, recognizing that the success of these enterprises is also the country’s success.