Thousands of import tariff lines have been cut in the Vietnamese market. Photo 24h.com.vn

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Viet Nam has reduced import duties to 0-5 per cent on more than 10,000 tariff lines, or 98 per cent of the total, in accordance with the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement from 2008, said Deputy Head of National Committee for International Economic Co-operation Trinh Minh Anh.

Speaking at a seminar on the development of the ASEAN economic community held by Vietnam National University (VNU), Anh said Viet Nam is one of several ASEAN members to have successfully completed the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC)'s commitments. Other members include Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

It's reported that although the form of AEC will strongly affect people living in the bloc's member nations, the awareness of the society and businesses community still remains limited.

A survey made by the ASEAN Secretariat in 2012 revealed that 76 per cent of the surveyed participants had not clearly known about AEC, and only 55 per cent of businesses had understood the basic role of ASEAN.

Director of VNU University of Economics and Business Nguyen Hong Son said Viet Nam had been facing many challenges when taking part in the AEC because its development standard and competitive capacity are lower than some other ASEAN countries.

Domestic businesses also suffer from weaknesses in the country's infrastructure, labour force and mechanisms.

"If Viet Nam solves the above problems by restructuring the economy and renovating the growth model, I believe that the country will be able to take advantage when it integrates into the AEC by 2015," said Son.

In addition, it was stated that Viet Nam needs to push up administrative reform, especially in the fields of trade, service and investment in order to improve the economy's competitiveness as well as make a way for the implementation of trade liberalisation when ASEAN market is formed. — VNS