Vietnam Digital Trade

Over the past two decades, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) support has helped improve Vietnam’s openness to trade and increased trade substantially. U.S.-Vietnam bilateral trade during this period has grown from about $3 billion to more than $139 billion. 

Building on this support, USAID’s Vietnam Digital Trade activity partners with the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) to help address regulatory gaps and promote private sector engagement in the rapidly growing digital economy. 

Supporting Private Sector Engagement

Enhancing private sector engagement in the development and implementation of digital trade regulations will increase transparency, remove obstacles for businesses, and help ensure that Vietnam’s digital trade ecosystem benefits enterprises of all sizes. To this end, this activity:

• Supports MOIT to implement regulatory and policy frameworks that facilitate digital trade, with an emphasis on private sector consultation through public-private dialogue;
• Encourages the participation of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in digital trade by introducing new business models and practices, and by facilitating cross-border connections between enterprises via MOIT’s digital trade promotion platform (DECOBIZ); and
• Supports MOIT and business associations, such as the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and Vietnam E-commerce Association (VECOM), to promote digital trade across the country, particularly for women-owned enterprises and minority communities.

Impact

Together, USAID and MOIT strive to make significant improvements to digital trade, unleashing its potential as a key driver of economic growth. The activity targets the following results:

• Transparent digital trade regulations and associated guidance that reflect private sector inputs are put into action. 
• 50% of Vietnam’s small and medium enterprises (SMEs) connected on the DECOBIZ platform that achieve higher growth through regular business linkages. 
• Business associations and other advocacy groups that are better positioned to actively promote participation in digital trade among their members. 

Targeted Localities

The activity focuses its work at the national-level.