The MoT’s announcement also leads to the dissolution of the export reward committee. The scheme rewarding enterprises and individuals who have high achievements in export has been applied in accordance with the Decision No. 02/2002/QQÄ-BTM dated January 2, 2002.
The ministry had notified exporters of the impending change a while ago. WTO rules allow member-countries to support research and development, disadvantaged areas in a country, and environmental protection, but ban other forms of subsidy or governmental support, including export subsidies and incentives.
The incentive program took effect in 1998 and rewarded 66 enterprises with bonuses totaling VND4.6 billion (US$287,500) in the first year, the MoT reported.
These figures jumped to 106 businesses and VND6.2 billion (US$387,500), respectively in 1999 and have increased steadily every year. In 2004, the figures were 349 enterprises and VND29.4 billion (US$1.83 million). Vietnam was estimated to bag US$22.45 billion from goods exports in the first half of this year, up 19.4 per cent on-year. The nation’s four giant export markets now are the US, the EU, Japan and China.
This year, Vietnam is forecast to bag US$47.5 billion in exports, up 20 per cent on-year. The country aims for a whopping US$100-billion export value by 2010 with the advantage of WTO membership, the MoT said.