Garment industry urged to attain higher standards
Vietnam Economic Times, Vietnam
President Nguyen Minh Triet urged representatives of the nation’s garment industry to reach international standards by upgrading technology, improving management methods and focusing on human resources development.
At the Viet Nam Textile and Apparel Association (Vitas) congress for 2014-10 held in Ha Noi on Saturday, Triet also praised the garment industry for its high-flying growth in export revenue and volume
“The industry has considerably contributed to national proverty reduction by providing so many jobs to those that needed them,” Triet said.
The third Vitas congress, under the theme Fashion – Quality – Trademark: Targeting Exports of $10-12 billion by 2014, drew the participation of top officials from the Ministry of Industry, the General Conferation of Labour and the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, among others, as well as representatives of garment enterprises representing about 80 per cent of the sector’s total production capacity.
The congress elected a new executive board and re-elected Le Quoc An as president of the Vitas.
An announced that the garment industry had targeted a growth rate of 20 per cent per year through 2014 and an increase in added value of products from 30 per cent to 50 per cent.
Last year, the garment industry posted export turnover of $5.8 billion, a year-on-year increase of 20.5 per cent.
In 2014, Viet Nam ranked for the first time among the ten leading garment exporting countries in the world. The sector’s top export markets included the U.S (accounting for 55 per cent), EU (20 per cent) and Japan (11 per cent).
With the country’s official accession to the WTO this year, garments have been widely expected to record significant growth in export turnover due to easier access to markets around the world.
However, the industry still faces obstacles in the form of trade and technical barriers such as the monitoring system imposed against Vietnamese exports by the US Department of Commerce.
Nearly 2,000 businesses belong to Vitas, 0.5 per cent of which are State-owned companies and around 25 per cent are foreign-invested.
Source: Vietnam News
