TOPIC THE EVFTA VIETNAM AND TRADE FACILITATION FOR THE SEAFOOD SECTOR AN ANALYSIS

FOREIGN TRADE UNIVERSITY -*** - SUBJECT: TRADE FACILITATION TOPIC: THE EVFTA: VIETNAM AND TRADE FACILITATION FOR THE SEAFOOD SECTOR - AN ANALYSIS Member: Nguyễn Kim Sơn – 1810140058 Vũ Hà Phương – 1811140094 Đỗ Thị Phương Thảo - 1811140096 Trần Hồng Quân – 1810140056 Nguyễn Xuân Thành – 1811140095 Nguyễn Quỳnh Chi – 1810140011 Class: International Business Economics (Advanced Class) Lecturer: Ph.D Pham Thanh Ha Ha Noi, October 2021 Table of Contents Introduction .1 Part 1: Theoretical framework 1.1 THE DEFINITION AND MECHANICS OF FTAS AND EVFTA: 1.2 THE PROSPECTS OF VIETNAM - EU’S TRADE RELATIONS: Part 2: Vietnam’s seafood and fisheries sector’s current state of play when implementing the EVFTA .2 2.1 OVERVIEW OF VIETNAM’S SEAFOOD EXPORTS AND IMPORTS WITH THE EU: 2.1.1 Exports: 2.1.2 Export markets and forms of seafood export 2.1.3 The competitiveness of Vietnam's seafood products in the EU market 2.2 EVALUATION OF VIETNAM’S SEAFOOD EXPORTS TO THE EU, IN LIGHT OF THE EVFTA: .4 2.2.1 Achievements: 2.2.2 Limitations: .4 2.3.1 Provisional opportunities: .5 2.3.2 Provisional threats 3.1 MACROECONOMIC SOLUTIONS: 3.1.1 Enhancing the performance of supporting industries: 3.1.2 Continuous provision of market information: 3.1.3 Completing and perfecting the legal environment: 3.2 MICRO SOLUTIONS: 3.2.1 Promoting trade facilitation activities: 3.2.2 Strengthening the cooperation between businesses and farmers: 3.2.3 Developing human resources: 3.2.4 Properly implementing regulations to trace the origins of seafood 10 Conclusion .10 References 11 Introduction The 21st century - the century of industrialization, modernization, and opening up of markets - has seen the whole world begin to catch up more and more with modern trends: Being dynamic, connected, cooperative and mutually developed together Recognizing the utmost importance of the current trend of globalization, Vietnam has been transforming, increasingly renewing under the leadership of the Party and State, so that it can quickly take measures to keep up with the times with sustainable development, tightening international relations, in order to optimally support and receive support from countries To that, Vietnam has been making great efforts to overcome barriers and trade regulations, participating in the act of signing documents and joining major commercial organizations in the world, such as the ASEAN, the WTO, the APEC, etc Despite all that, it is next to impossible to mention Vietnam’s efforts in opening its markets without the EVFTA - one of the most important agreements, paving the way for Vietnam's economy later on the path of opening up and integrating into the world One particularly crucial economic sector that Vietnam hopes to reinforce is the seafood and fisheries sector In recent years, the seafood industry has always been paid special attention by the State and focused on development in many aspects Seafood exports not only serve the increasing needs of people, but also help the country curb unemployment, contribute to the national budget, create favorable conditions for economic development, as well as the development of related industries Vietnam's seafood export industry is increasingly asserting its position in the world economy Currently, the EU is a key and long-term strategic market This is also an opportunity for Vietnam's seafood industry to thrive in Europe Part 1: Theoretical framework 1.1 THE DEFINITION AND MECHANICS OF FTAS AND EVFTA: In the traditional viewpoint, according to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade GATT 1947, article XXIV, a FTA is defined as “a pact between two or more nations to reduce barriers to imports and exports among them Under a free trade policy, goods and services can be bought and sold across international borders with little or no government tariffs, quotas, subsidies, or prohibitions to inhibit their exchange” The EVFTA (European - Vietnam Free Trade Agreement) is a free trade agreement between Vietnam and 27 European countries Not only eliminating more than 99% of customs duties on goods, the agreement also opens the Vietnamese market to EU companies and strengthens the protection of EU and Vietnamese investments The EVFTA Agreement officially took effect on August 1, 2020, opening up great opportunities and prospects, this is also a particularly important time for the comprehensive cooperative partnership between Vietnam and the EU Besides the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the EVFTA Agreement is an important new generation free trade agreement that Vietnam participates in The conclusion of the negotiation, signing and ratification of the agreement is a long way with the efforts, efforts and determination of Vietnam with the goal of raising the bilateral trade relationship between Vietnam and the EU to a high altitude 2 1.2 THE PROSPECTS OF VIETNAM - EU’S TRADE RELATIONS: As a matter of fact, at the moment the EU economy is facing public debt crises Therefore, it is possible that the economic relations of the two sides will also be somewhat negatively affected The relationship between the two sides in the coming time will depend a lot on the EU's ability to solve their current problems In addition, the public debt crisis also poses many new problems in thinking about Vietnam's approach to the EU market in this context Future trade disputes will take place in both quantity as well as diversity in form, fierce in competitive nature, showing a new balance when Vietnam's economy is gradually developing Production capacity to supply goods is also increasing accordingly to meet the strict and difficult EU market, requiring high technical standards An extremely great benefit to emphasize is that developing trade with the EU will help Vietnam access modern technology and equipment, as well as receive more training in labor qualifications, skills, serving the national construction to become an industrialized country In the coming time, trade with the EU and Vietnam will continue to maintain the nation’s trade surplus As for enterprises and large investors from Europe, Vietnam is currently a potential market with great purchasing power, an economy with high growth rate in recent years compared to the region Part 2: Vietnam’s seafood and fisheries sector’s current state of play when implementing the EVFTA 2.1 OVERVIEW OF VIETNAM’S SEAFOOD EXPORTS AND IMPORTS WITH THE EU: 2.1.1 Exports: Currently, Vietnam is ranked among the largest countries in Asia and in terms of seafood exports According to the report of VASEP, Vietnam's seafood exports have been present in 170 markets around the world, of which still focus on main markets: the US, EU and Japan These three markets account for 50% to 60% of Vietnam's annual seafood export turnover In 2020, these three markets still continue to account for about 50% of Vietnam's total seafood export turnover In terms of export proportions, seafood to the EU has always accounted for a stable rate of 17%-26% of Vietnam's total annual seafood export turnover In the period of 2009-2011, the seafood export industry accounted for nearly 10% of Vietnam's total export turnover to the EU and in the 2012-2020 period, the fisheries industry accounted for 3%-5% of the total export turnover of Vietnam's goods to the EU According to new statistics, however, in 2021, Exports to major markets were all reduced, of which exports to the EU decreased the most by 40% These are alarming numbers for Vietnam's seafood, reminding seafood exports to the EU that there are signs of a decrease and it is necessary to take measures to support and promptly change the export situation in this difficult period 2.1.2 Export markets and forms of seafood export 2.1.2.1 Export markets: Among the 27 EU countries, Vietnam's main export markets are: Germany, Spain, Italy, France and the Netherlands Since the 2000s, Vietnam has promoted export promotion to the EU and so far has expanded to all 27 EU countries, of which there are traditional markets with the largest market share, namely Germany, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands In the period of 2015-2020, with the significant support of the EVFTA, these four markets always account for nearly 50% of Vietnam's seafood export turnover to the EU While the markets of Germany, Spain and Italy tend to decrease slightly in proportion, the Netherlands still tends to increase Besides, in recent years, France, Belgium and Portugal have also emerged as markets with positive turnover growth Along with continuing to maintain relationships with traditional markets, Vietnamese businesses have also begun to turn to exploit this potential market 2.1.2.2 Forms of seafood export: The method of Vietnam's seafood export to the EU mainly has two forms: Direct export and export through intermediary agents Regarding the direct export channel, Vietnamese seafood enterprises only focus on approaching importers but have not directly approached retailers and supermarkets Because they have not penetrated deeply into the retail channel, businesses lack information about the market or receive little direct feedback from consumers, thereby failing to promptly change and invest in production to adapt to demand market demand In addition, for businesses that are not yet eligible to build their own distribution network, they have chosen to use intermediaries, which are Viet Kieu's trading companies in the EU or through third-country brokers such as: Hong Kong and Singapore Although this form helps businesses quickly access the market and reduce risks, on the contrary, it makes Vietnamese businesses highly dependent on intermediary partners, not proactive in establishing their own distribution network, even with the current support of the EVFTA 2.1.3 The competitiveness of Vietnam's seafood products in the EU market - Pricing: Pangasius products, bivalve molluscs and vannamei shrimp are Vietnam's export seafood products that have good competitiveness in the EU market in terms of price In fact, the price of Vietnamese pangasius products has a competitive advantage compared to other white meat in the EU such as Vietnam's low labor costs and the large scale of pangasius farming Compared to other countries in the world, Vietnam is leading the supply capacity and production output of pangasius, accounting for nearly 50% of the world production per year The large-scale production creates a better competitive advantage for Vietnam compared to other countries as the price of Vietnamese pangasius is very cheap - Quality: To date, there are about 200 shrimp processing plants approved by the European Commission with periodic field inspections right here in Vietnam Vietnam is also one of the countries with many shrimp farming areas achieving ASC and BAP certificates in the world In fact, European countries have a high demand for responsible and certified products, and the fact that Vietnam has many shrimp farming areas with ASC and GlobalGap certification is a major factor that helps Vietnamese shrimp compete in quality with other products on the market In addition, recently, Vietnam has also put the method of ecological shrimp farming in mangrove forests into mass application to increase the output of exported ecological aquatic products, the competitiveness of Vietnamese shrimp in the world market will be much higher than before - Market share: Vietnam has gradually established its position in the world seafood market In 2000, Vietnam ranked only 11th among the seafood exporting countries in the world, 5th in Asia and 3rd in Southeast Asia, after Thailand (the exporting country of aquatic product) and Indonesia (10th) By 2020, Vietnam's position in the world seafood market has improved a lot, rising to the 4th position among the world's seafood exporting countries That proves the outstanding development of Vietnam's seafood industry and the competitiveness of Vietnamese seafood products on the world market has been much improved than before Furthermore, in the past few years, Vietnam has a number of frozen seafood products that are quite stable for export to Sweden and the Nordic region, such as: Pangasius fillet, black tiger shrimp, red snapper and mollusk seafood Particularly, Vietnam's pangasius product has recently had a stable and dominant position in the Nordic market Besides, with the diversity in aquatic resources, Vietnam has taken advantage of this advantage to export a variety of products to the European market, in which the main products are pangasius and shrimp 2.2 EVALUATION OF VIETNAM’S SEAFOOD EXPORTS TO THE EU, IN LIGHT OF THE EVFTA: 2.2.1 Achievements: Thanks in large part to the EVFTA, in recent years, the proportion of Vietnam's seafood exports to the EU has continuously increased in terms of both value and output Output increased from 345 thousand tons in 2009 to 416 thousand tons in 2015 and 467 thousand tons in 2020 The value of Vietnam's seafood exports to the EU also continuously increased by over $1,133 million in 2011 and up to $1,247 million in 2020 Besides these achievements, the EVFTA have also helped with trade facilitation for Vietnamese seafood exports to the EU, yielding the country considerable results in overcoming trade barriers such as: - In terms of tariffs: Since the EU allowed Vietnamese seafood to enjoy the EVFTA's preferential regime, we have always met the EU's conditions for the country enjoying this regime and are always on the list of priority countries of the EU - Regarding meeting the EU’s technical standards: Despite the strict control of the EU food authority and pressure from the IUU yellow card, the export turnover of Vietnamese seafood still tends to increase, bringing seafood to the leading position among food products imported into the EU, also bringing the country a large source of foreign currency The quality of Vietnam's seafood products is constantly being improved, investment in upgrading infrastructure for aquaculture and fishing is always renewed, seafood processing technology meets HACCP standards and is always maintained - Regarding the dumping of seafood products: Unlike the case with the US market, Vietnamese seafood in the EU market is very little and there are almost no dumping lawsuits Partly due to the large demand for seafood imports from the EU market, the EU usually does not use antidumping measures as a commercial or political retaliation like the US Besides, Vietnamese seafood products are exported to the EU at reasonable prices and many varieties have quite high competitive advantages such as shrimp, pangasius and basa fish Seafood products imported from Vietnam have almost no impact on EU domestic products, so they are usually not sued for dumping This is also an advantage of Vietnamese seafood products in the EU market 5 2.2.2 Limitations: Besides a myriad of achievements that the EVFTA have brought, there are still many limitations that hinder the promotion of Vietnam's seafood exports to the EU market: - Vietnam's seafood market share still accounts for a small market share although export turnover to the EU has continuously increased When there are large-scale orders, Vietnamese enterprises still miss orders because the number of large enterprises is not really many, financial constraints, low labor productivity and input materials for products unstable output - In terms of production and processing, seafood products are exported a lot, but the quality is not high, that's why the value of Vietnamese seafood products in the EU market is not high The selling price of Vietnam's seafood products compared to other countries in the region or the world is much lower, so the total export value is not high, not true to the real value of those products - In terms of fishing and aquaculture, the fisheries sector has not yet fully taken advantage of the country's potential yet Currently, the field of aquaculture still accounts for a relatively low proportion compared to other sectors, there is still a lot of wasted land and waters, which has not been fully exploited, the efficiency of aquaculture is not high Our country's fishing means are very poor and outdated, there are few means of offshore fishing, the fishing means are low in volume, so the economic efficiency is not high - Regarding the search for markets in the EU for seafood products, businesses have not focused on marketing for their products, but mainly in the form of processing or exporting raw products without a focus on image and brand building Therefore, EU customers not understand much and know well enough about the quality and brand of Made in Vietnam seafood products 2.3 CURRENT OPPORTUNITIES AND THREATS FOR SEAFOOD EXPORTS REGARDING THE APPLICATION OF THE EVFTA: 2.3.1 Provisional opportunities: a/ Continuing to promote exports to the EU: Through the EVFTA agreement, Vietnamese seafood exporters have conditions to access the large European market with more than 500 million people According to Mutrap's forecast, with the continued application of the EVFTA in about 2-3 years, Vietnam's GDP can increase by 0.5%/year and exports by 5-6% This is a good opportunity for Vietnam's seafood industry to develop trade with the EU The elimination of tariffs will still create a huge price advantage for seafood products when competing with competitors from other developing countries without an FTA with the EU, including India, Thailand, and the Philippines and Indonesia In addition to the benefits from tariffs, another benefit that EVFTA brings to Vietnam to facilitate seafood exports to the EU is the unification in the field of Customs management between the EU and Vietnam to facilitate trade trade and transparency in understanding and applying non-tariff barriers Both parties are committed to ensuring that EU customs procedures and processes will be transparent, accurate and faster Here, the EU will allow the application of a single window, a single set of customs documents This is especially important for commodities like seafood, which are generally subject to more paperwork in customs than industrial goods 6 b/ Increasing investment attraction in farming, mining and processing seafood: The EVFTA has brought Vietnam great expectations to attract FDI into Vietnam's seafood industry, thereby creating a driving force to expand and make full use of the development potential of export seafood This is a great opportunity for Vietnam's seafood because in the current context, FDI investment in the seafood industry is very limited and not commensurate with the development potential of seafood The scale of FDI investment in seafood is not large Currently, investment projects in fisheries are still only on a small scale, averaging just over million USD/project compared to the general average of 12.4 million USD/project Among 18 countries investing FDI in Vietnamese seafood, it is mainly concentrated in countries: Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, Japan and China Not many European Union investors invest in Vietnam's seafood sector on a large scale, although the EVFTA is being applied In fact, the countries in the EU have strong capacity and advantages in high-tech seafood such as the Netherlands, Germany, and Iceland By investing in Vietnam's seafood sector, EU countries will benefit greatly It is these benefits that will be a strong motivation to encourage European countries to pour more capital into our seafood industry c/ Contributing to the improvement of the quality of exported seafood: As one of the superpowers in seafood production and export with many strengths such as climate, extensive and rich aquaculture resources (a coastline of nearly 3,260 km, an exclusive economic zone of more than million USD) km2 and a large area of freshwater and brackish water), diversity of aquatic resources, even some aquatic products that are difficult for European countries to cultivate, but due to inefficient methods, aquatic products Vietnamese products are mainly exported in rudimentary form The processing value is not much, leading to low competitiveness compared to other competitors such as Thailand, China, the Philippines and Indonesia Quality improvement is always the point that Vietnamese seafood needs to focus on Strict requirements, strict quality, food safety standards and animal quarantine will be the mandatory requirements of our seafood It will be the driving force for seafood businesses and the whole Vietnamese seafood industry to improve, eliminate weaknesses and change and reform to achieve EU standards If it does not change, it means that the business will remove itself from the game and succumb to other competitors If the product quality is successfully improved, the export turnover will increase and the economic benefits will be huge 2.3.2 Provisional threats a/ Fierce competition in the EU seafood market: The EU is a big market with per capita seafood consumption up to 24.35kg/person and import turnover in 2019 is 12.9 million tons, of which 62.5% is imported seafood With such consumption and market size, there are many countries promoting seafood exports to the EU, so Vietnam will have to compete fiercely with many other competitors For example, in terms of shrimp exports to the EU, Vietnam's two competitors in the processed shrimp segment are Indonesia and Thailand High cost is a big disadvantage of the shrimp industry, as it reduces the competitiveness of Vietnamese shrimp compared to other countries This is the general situation, although the level of shrimp farming of Vietnamese farmers is not inferior to other countries, because most of the input costs (seedlings, feed, etc) are very high The cost of shrimp farming in Vietnam is often 20-30% higher, despite being exempted from tariffs from the EVFTA b/ Challenges from complying with and enforcing the provisions of the EVFTA: While the EVFTA has given Vietnam quite an edge in exports, Vietnam itself has found a number of difficulties regarding the provisions in the Agreement: - Rules of origin: The rules of origin requirement is one of the main challenges that Vietnam still has to overcome Even if the product is made in Vietnam, EU importers may not necessarily recognize that origin because Vietnamese products in general are highly dependent on imported materials For raw seafood imported into Vietnam to process goods for export to the EU, the Anti-Fraud Agency of the European Commission (OLAP) has also said that there are risks: Either the material originates from other countries farming areas have not met disease control standards; or raw material suppliers choose Vietnam as a transshipment and primary processing country to avoid higher tax rates when exporting to the EU - Food safety regulations: The export of Vietnamese seafood and then being returned has happened many times, not only causing damage to businesses but also affecting the overall reputation of Vietnamese seafood In 2018 alone, there were about 80 shipments of Vietnamese seafood to the EU and import markets warned of poor quality and returned The reason is that these consignments not meet the EU's food safety and hygiene requirements because they contain substances in excess of the permissible limits or are banned for use in food In order to meet strict European food safety standards, Vietnamese seafood needs to improve its sanitary and epidemiological measures in a more transparent and consistent manner - IUU regulations: Previously, due to limitations in potential, capacity to exploit fishing grounds, management organization, and incorrect product declaration, there were mistakes in fishing, and so on October 23, 2017, The EU officially gave a yellow card to Vietnam Being yellow card means that all Vietnamese seafood exported to the EU will be controlled 100%, while before that control was probabilistic If it is more serious, switching from yellow card to red card means that 27 member countries in the EU will not import Vietnamese seafood anymore Due to the influence of the IUU "yellow card", 100% of containers destined for the EU are stopped by the relevant authorities of your country, leading to a delay of up to 30 days, making the delivery schedule late, causing many partners to turn back to find suppliers in other markets c/ Limited production capabilities: The biggest inadequacy of the shrimp industry today is that the production is small, not synchronized, so it has not met the conditions for increasing productivity and concentrated output to promote linkages and increase the competitiveness of products Small farmers often lack production capital, have to buy inputs on credit, bear high interest rates and not have the opportunity to choose quality products, depending on agents Many farming areas have not been guaranteed infrastructure investment; technology in shrimp farming is currently very limited, especially in extensive farming areas due to lack of investment attention, leading to low productivity and low production efficiency 8 In addition, the abuse of drugs, chemicals, and injections of impurities into raw shrimp remains The low level of technology causes inadequate environmental control, besides the requirements from the market and importers (quality, environment, labor, sustainable production, social responsibility, etc.) are getting stricter and stricter Part 3: Solutions and future action for the implementation of the EVFTA for Vietnam’s seafood sector 3.1 MACROECONOMIC SOLUTIONS: 3.1.1 Enhancing the performance of supporting industries: Vietnam's seafood exports play an important role in the country's economy and include many combined fields such as: aquaculture and fishing, seafood trade, seafood processing technology, animal feed, etc These activities are closely related to each other, so, to develop aquatic products for export, it is necessary to plan for the comprehensive development of related supporting industries Therefore, in order to promote seafood exports to the EU, the State needs to have solutions to improve the capacity of supporting industries such as aquaculture, fishing, and the seafood processing industry Aquaculture area planning must be associated with the goal of sustainable development and protection of ecological farming, comply with aquaculture regulations to ensure the quality of input aquatic products, ensure production and stability people's life Planning activities need to maximize the ecological advantages of Vietnam's fisheries sector; get detailed plans and shape the development of aquaculture areas with specific investment projects in the condition that they not disrupt the planning for development of irrigation and sea dykes in the deployment area 3.1.2 Continuous provision of market information: The reality is that many seafood exporters lack information about the international market; not timely update the changes in the regulations of the importing country on hygiene and epidemiology, technical barriers, rules of origin, etc The lack of information of businesses leads to some exporters having their goods returned or suspended from exporting because they not comply with export standards of EU countries Therefore, ministries and sectors need to build a detailed, specific and clear information network, strengthen updating and guiding regulations related to seafood products exported to the EU in the EVFTA; Update the market records of 27 EU countries to provide a reliable source of market research information for exporters to help them be proactive in building a reasonable import and export plan and make good use of the market mechanism In addition, the Directorate of Fisheries needs to have an investment plan to build and develop a department specialized in market research in order to improve the quality of market forecasting; promptly provide businesses and producers with the latest updates on the EU seafood market on aspects such as prices, supply and demand relationships, consumption trends, market fluctuations 3.1.3 Completing and perfecting the legal environment: The improvement of the legal system to make it easier for businesses to produce and export seafood requires the participation of many functional agencies of different ministries such as the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development , Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Industry and Trade The State and these ministries and agencies need to review legal documents governing fisheries-related issues such as the law on fisheries, the law on foreign investment, the law on encouraging domestic investment, and changing regulations that not appropriate, avoiding overlapping and conflicting regulations to create more open conditions for attracting foreign investment and developing the fisheries sector In addition, the Government needs to have specific regulations and documents to guide businesses in properly complying with import standards on selfcertification of origin procedures, and guidelines on animal and plant quarantine procedures, monitoring food hygiene and safety, checking antibiotic residues in aquaculture, managing aqua feeds, applying VietGAP, EuroGAP, GlobalGAP standards to production 3.2 MICRO SOLUTIONS: 3.2.1 Promoting trade facilitation activities: Firstly, Vietnamese businesses need to step by step join the EU market distribution channel In the long term, in order to export seafood to the EU with the highest efficiency, Vietnamese seafood enterprises should have a separate distribution system However, it is a longterm plan because currently most businesses cannot afford the financial capacity and time is limited Therefore, in the immediate future, businesses can use the solution to link up with the Vietnamese community in the EU to invest in the production, processing and export of seafood products that the EU market is in demand Both parties contribute capital to establish a joint venture The Vietnamese side with the advantage of labor, raw materials and factories will be responsible for production The foreign side with business acumen and available distribution channels will be responsible for the sale of the goods In this way, manufactured goods will be convenient in penetrating the distribution channel on the EU market, and at the same time, meet the needs of this country's consumers well and fast 3.2.2 Strengthening the cooperation between businesses and farmers: In order to have stable development, the cooperation between businesses and farmers is the first priority In the past years, there is a common situation in the seafood industry that businesses lower the price of their products to attract more partners, and in order to make sure they are still profitable, they turn to force up the purchase price Raw materials make farmers lose money, leave ponds, leave farms without stocking seeds and lead to an even more shortage of raw materials in the country When the raw materials are overpriced, the farming grows hot spontaneously, and without planning, leads to oversupply It can be said that the source of raw materials is vital for seafood exporters, so businesses must ensure that they have an input supply that can meet both volume and quality Enterprises must sign off-sale contracts with aquaculture farms, and at the same time help farmers with farming techniques, selection of varieties, feed, veterinary medicine, disease control and disease control especially the technique of preserving raw materials after harvesting Aquaculture activities have a high-risk nature, so businesses must pay attention to signing contracts with many suppliers to spread risks, avoid missing business opportunities and keep credibility with customers even when there is a fluctuation and decrease in the supply of raw materials 10 3.2.3 Developing human resources: In the seafood industry, most of them are small-scale enterprises, with low qualifications of workers, so the issue of human resource development has received little attention In order to comply with the labor regulations of the EVFTA, as well as to improve the operational efficiency of enterprises themselves, the issue of human resources development needs special attention Workers in the fishery industry are mostly unskilled workers, and their awareness of occupational health protection is still very low, so enterprises must take a leading role in this regard Fishery enterprises must strictly comply with the State's regulations on occupational health and safety, disseminate them to workers before hiring them to work, and conduct periodic health checks for employees individuals, organize delegations to regularly inspect the implementation of those regulations and have re-sanctions for violations Also, fishery enterprises must have funds for the purpose of skill training workers, cooperate with agencies and organizations to open periodical refresher courses in professional knowledge and teach science and technology applications to people The cooperation with universities and colleges to bring students to visit and practice at enterprises will at the same time contribute to creating a young workforce with good qualifications and ability to work in the seafood industry in the future 3.2.4 Properly implementing regulations to trace the origins of seafood Good practice of traceability is a strategic solution to the EU IUU yellow card issue To so, businesses need to invest in smart software applications such as I-tracing, cloud technology and blockchain to manage production and digitize data in aquaculture such as: Seed management , pond management, feeding management, growth management, harvesting etc Fishing vessel owners need to invest funds in installing cruise monitoring equipment, using catch logging technology and electronic traceability (eCDT) proposed by the Directorate of Fisheries thereby helping authorities quickly trace the origin of caught seafood based on electronic data instead of rudimentary paper logs as before Thus, the application of 4.0 technology is one of the effective solutions to meet the requirements of displaying product traceability information in both depth and breadth through connecting managers, manufacturers, and suppliers EU imports and consumers Conclusion After Singapore, Vietnam has become the second country in Southeast Asia to conclude negotiations with the EU The EVFTA is an important milestone in the roadmap to strengthen the comprehensive and profound partnership, marking a long step forward, especially in the tradeinvestment relationship between Vietnam and the EU It can be said that the free trade agreement between Vietnam and the EU countries promises to open up many opportunities for Vietnamese businesses and also contains many challenges Especially, the main group of seafood products exported to the EU has continuously grown in turnover, bringing great export benefits to Vietnam Vietnam's seafood industry has taken advantage of the industry's strengths such as an abundant labor force with low costs, low input costs, favorable natural conditions, and a stable investment environment in aquatic production However, there are still limitations that make it difficult to meet the requirements of the EVFTA Typically, production and business activities are 11 still small, having weak infrastructure, lacking in seed sources and high-quality input human resources and information sources, poor forecasting capacity, and lacking attention to food hygiene and safety All of this has made the EVFTA unable to support Vietnam as much as it has been predicted to be previously To overcome the problems faced by exported seafood, enterprises need to improve their production and competitiveness, enhance technology transfer and strictly comply with regulations on traceability; Industry associations must improve organizational capacity to perform well the role of representatives, protect the interests of businesses in the international market and support businesses in trade 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market, Statistical Publishing House, Hanoi Watanabe, K 2020, Vietnam and the EVFTA: Concrete advantages or looming threats?, Kodansha Ltd, Tokyo World Bank 2019, FISH to 2030 Prospects for Fisheries and Aquaculture ... to Vietnam to facilitate seafood exports to the EU is the unification in the field of Customs management between the EU and Vietnam to facilitate trade trade and transparency in understanding and. .. although the EVFTA is being applied In fact, the countries in the EU have strong capacity and advantages in high-tech seafood such as the Netherlands, Germany, and Iceland By investing in Vietnam' s seafood. .. quality, food safety standards and animal quarantine will be the mandatory requirements of our seafood It will be the driving force for seafood businesses and the whole Vietnamese seafood industry