Trinh Minh Anh, Head of Office of the Inter-sectoral Steering Committee for Global Economic Integration, stated that international economic integration is an objective necessity in the context of globalization. Since the early years of reform, Vietnam has aimed to build an open economy based on a socialist-oriented market mechanism. Under the leadership of the Communist Party, Vietnam’s international economic integration process has yielded significant achievements.

Vietnam has established diplomatic relations with 193 countries and become an active member of nearly 70 regional and international organizations. Currently, Vietnam is one of the world’s top 40 economies by gross domestic product (GDP) size, among the top 20 economies in trade, the top 15 in attracting foreign investment, and ranks 46th worldwide in the Global Innovation Index.

Vietnam has become a world top-20 economy in terms of international trade

In the recent period, Vietnam has maintained relatively high and stable economic growth. Its GDP grew by an average 5.2 percent annually from 2021-2023 - a high level compared to the region and the world. In the first half of 2024, Vietnam’s economy continued to grow at 6.42 percent, significantly higher than the same period last year, and is forecast to continue on a more positive trend in the near future.

These results have been achieved thanks to the expansion and deepening of Vietnam’s international trade activities, particularly through its involvement in FTAs. According to Trinh Minh Anh, Vietnam has signed 16 FTAs and is negotiating three more, making a total of 19 FTAs. Through these trade deals, Vietnam currently has relations with over 60 FTA partners across all continents, with a combined GDP accounting for nearly 90 percent of global GDP. This has elevated Vietnam’s position to become a crucial link in the global network of partnerships. Thanks to these strengths, Vietnam’s import and export markets have expanded in many aspects.

Firstly, Vietnam’s export markets have expanded through the diversification and multilateralization of economic relationships. Currently, Vietnamese goods are present in over 230 countries and territories.

“Asia used to be Vietnam’s main export market. However, exports to the Americas increased significantly during the 2013-2022 period, from 21.2 percent of the total export value in 2013 to 34.1 percent in 2022 compared to an average of 21 percent during the 2013-2015 period. However, exports to the US declined by 11.6 percent in 2023,” Trinh Minh Anh reported.

Secondly, there has been positive growth in terms of export market size. In 2013, Vietnam’s exports to 24 markets exceeded US$1 billion each, with three markets exceeding US$10 billion each. Ten years later, in 2022, exports to 33 markets exceeded US$1 billion each, with six markets exceeding US$10 billion each, and 16 markets exceeding US$5 billion each.

In 2023, Vietnam’s exports to 32 markets exceeded US$1 billion each, with six markets exceeding US$10 billion each, and 16 markets exceeding US$5 billion each.

Thirdly, the trade balance has shifted from a deficit to a surplus. In 2012, with the export value reaching US$114.6 billion and import value US$114.3 billion, Vietnam recorded a trade surplus for the first time since 1993. Ten years later, despite severe impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and significant changes in the global economy, the 2022 total import and export value reached a record of US$732.5 billion, with a trade surplus of US$11.2 billion.

2023 marked the eighth consecutive year of Vietnam’s trade surplus, with nearly US$30 billion, almost triple that of 2022, with the total import and export value reaching US$683 billion.

Fourthly, Vietnam has become one of the world’s top 20 economies in terms of international trade. The World Trade Organization (WTO) has recognized Vietnam as an economy with a high level of openness, reaching 200 percent of GDP. The WTO’s World Trade Statistical Review 2020 reported that among the 50 largest trading nations in the world, Vietnam had achieved the highest growth, moving from the 39th position in 2009 to the 23rd in 2019, and entering the top 20 in 2021.

Significant achievements of Vietnam’s international integration process over the past 35 years included its accession to the WTO in early 2007, and the implementation of commitments within the WTO, along with approximately 100 bilateral and multilateral trade agreements, and more than 60 investment encouragement and protection agreements. Vietnam is also the world’s fastest-growing nation in terms of brand value during the 2020-2022 period, currently reaching US$431 billion./.