According to the committee's report, total import-export turnover via border gates from 2008 until September this year reached US$72 billion, an average rise of more than 10 per cent a year.— Photo laocai

HA NOI (Biz Hub)— The management of cross-border trade should be separate from import and export divisions to ensure greater efficiencies.

The statement was made by Vu Huy Hoang, Minister of Industry and Trade and head of the Border Trade Steering Committee.

Hoang was speaking at a conference on border trade in Ha Noi yesterday.

District representatives of the border-trade committee said management of border trade was carried out according to general import-export mechanism, which made it harder to take advantage of local potentials and strengths.

In addition, the border trade policies of countries sharing a border with Viet Nam frequently changed, making it difficult to maintain smooth operations on the Vietnamese side.

Reports quoted at the meeting indicated that problems also come from the substandard quality of facilities at border gates, a lack of storage systems and loading equipment, a substandard traffic system and the fact that many roads were undergoing repairs.

In addition, economic zones at border gate areas still lacked investment, meaning that many projects had been left unfinished.

The conference heard that the management of border trade had its limitations, and that full potential was still a long way off.

Hoang, however, still noted that border trade had witnessed many positive changes in recent years. This had led to expanded markets and more business interest.

According to the committee's report, total import-export turnover via border gates from 2008 until September this year reached US$72 billion, an average rise of more than 10 per cent a year.

Last year, the figure reached $13.1 billion, an increase of 27 per cent against 2008, and representing 5 per cent of the nation's total import-export turnover.

Enhanced relations between Viet Nam and neighbouring countries are expected to help Viet Nam raise trade turnover between Viet Nam and China to $60 billion, between Viet Nam and Laos to $2 billion and between Viet Nam and Cambodia to $5 billion in 2015. — VNS