Vietnam should increase the value created domestically within exports, not focus solely on trade turnover, according to Import-Export Department director Nguyễn Anh Sơn. In a November 3 Government News interview, he identified supporting industries, local-company capability and links with foreign-invested businesses as priorities.
Scale and retained value differ
Sơn described a shift towards processed and manufactured exports. Yet domestic value added remains below what headline turnover might suggest in electronics, machinery, textiles and footwear.
He cited constraints among smaller Vietnamese firms in production scale, technical standards, quality management, technological renewal and supply stability. Those capabilities affect their ability to become suppliers in international production networks.
Connections between domestic and foreign-invested companies have also fallen short of expectations, he said. Some sectors still depend heavily on imported materials and components. The interview does not announce a new measured localisation rate for each industry.
Proposed work on suppliers and markets
Sơn advocated supporting industries in electronics, semiconductors, precision engineering, electrical equipment and processing. Technology and management improvements could help Vietnamese firms enter higher-value stages of production.
He also proposed attracting high-technology FDI capable of building domestic supplier ecosystems, while diversifying towards the Middle East, South Asia, Africa and Latin America alongside established markets.
The next work described is deeper use of free-trade agreements and stronger capacity to meet quality, traceability, green-transition and supply-chain responsibilities. These are attributed development proposals, not a newly enacted package or proof that domestic value-added targets have already been achieved.