1. The Government issued Decree No. 98/2017/NĐ-CP stipulating the functions, tasks, rights and organisation of the MoIT.
On August 18, 2017, the Prime Minister signed Decree No. 98/2017 / ND-CP defining the functions, tasks, authorities and sector structure of the Ministry Industry Trade. The decree was issued to strengthen the organisational apparatus of the Ministry of Industry and Trade. The ministry has reduced its number of units (from 35 to 30 units) and 36.5% of its department (72 departments).
In addition, the ministry has also planned to organise and arrange its personnel.
2. The MoIT has simplified its administrative procedures and created favourable conditions for enterprises.
 |
The MoIT removed and simplified 123 administrative procedures. As many as 675 business and investment conditions were cut down, 63 conditions higher than the expected plan and equivalent to 55.5% of the total conditions. Following the reduction, the remaining conditions number 541.
3. The Ministry has approved a plan to tackle a number of shortcomings of certain ineffective and sluggish projects and businesses under the control of the industry and trade sector.
The MoIT made efforts to complete the review and evaluation of 12 ineffective and sluggish projects and completed plan to tackle a number of shortcomings of certain ineffective and sluggish projects and businesses under the control of the industry and trade sector.
Up to now, five factories have gone into production, gradually overcoming their losses, while other projects have deployed specific solutions.
4. Total exports-imports set a record of US$420 billion, including US$2113.8 billion from exports, up 21.1% against the previous year.
In 2017, 29 export items joined the US$1 billion export club, an increase of four commodity groups compared to 2016. Export growth is the highlight of the economy, which drove the GDP growth in 2017.
Trade surplus reached US$2.67 billion, the highest figure ever recorded and 2017 was the second consecutive year that Vietnam gained a trade surplus.
5. The auction of up to 53.59% of Saigon Beer - Alcohol - Beverage Corporation succeeded, gaining nearly VND110,000 billion (approximately US$5 billion).
 |
On December 18, 2017, the MoIT sold all of its 343.6 million shares, or a 53.59% stake, of the Saigon Beer, Alcohol and Beverage Corporation (Sabeco). The success of the business transactions demonstrates the investors' confidence in the market, the government and macroeconomy of Vietnam, motivating the success of the next state-owned enterprise divestments.
6. The law on foreign trade management was approved by the National Assembly.
On June 12, 2017, the law on foreign trade management was approved by the National Assembly with 88% of deputies giving their approval. The law consists of eight chapters with 113 articles, stipulating the measures on foreign trade management, the development of foreign trade activities and the application of measures on foreign trade management.
7. The industry and trade sector completed the sector’s development norms set by the National Assembly and the Government.
The targets set in 2017 were assigned to the MoIT by the National Assembly and the Government in terms of exports, imports, trade balance, total retail sales and service, and the IPP indicators of industry completed in 2017.
8. The 23rd APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade (APEC MRT 23) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) Ministerial Meeting were successfully organised.
 |
The successful organisation of the 23rd meeting of Ministers Responsible for Trade and other relevant events taking place from May 19-21, 2017, in Hanoi, was highly appreciated by international friends.
Trade ministers from 11 member countries of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreed on the core elements of the pact, which will be called the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) from now on. This was mentioned in a joint statement issued following the TPP Ministerial Meeting which took place within the framework of the APEC Economic Leaders’ Week in the central city of Da Nang on November 6-9.
9. A number of automobile manufacturing and assembly projects kicked off.
The projects include the ground-breaking ceremonies of THACO-Mazda automobile manufacturing plant with a design capacity of 100,000 cars per year and VINGROUP’s electric automobile and motorbike manufacturing complex named Vinfast, representing a total investment capital of VND35 trillion (US$1.5 billion), marking the group's first step to become Southeast Asia's “Made in Vietnam” automobile brand.
10. The plan on fully replacing RON 92 petrol with E5 bio-fuel nationwide was deployed.
RON 92 petrol and E5 bio-fuel, a mix of RON 92 (95%) and bio-fuel ethanol (5%), would co-exist by December 31, 2017. As of January 1, 2018, only E5 bio-fuel and RON 95 will be produced and available for purchase.
