Việt Nam News

Trade ministry to announce 2025 FTA Index

July 21, 2026 - 16:25

MoIT will coordinate with relevant ministries, agencies and local authorities to organise the event and propose commendations for high-performing localities.

The 2024 FTA Index announcement ceremony. — Photo congthuong.vn

HÀ NỘI — The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) plans to announce the 2025 Free Trade Agreement Index (FTA Index), which assesses how effectively localities implement free trade agreements, at a ceremony scheduled for late July.

Under a government directive, MoIT will coordinate with relevant ministries, agencies and local authorities to organise the event and propose commendations for high-performing localities.

The ministry has also been tasked with expanding the FTA Index assessment to relevant industry associations from 2026 and improving policies and support mechanisms to help businesses make better use of FTAs.

The initiative includes refining the evaluation criteria and considering the FTA Index as a key indicator in assessing local government performance.

According to MoIT's report, the quality of FTA implementation by local authorities continued to improve in 2025, encouraging greater attention to international economic integration and stronger support for businesses seeking to benefit from FTAs.

The 2025 results classified five localities as 'Good', 13 as 'Fairly Good', 10 as 'Above Average', and five as 'Average', with no locality rated 'Weak'.

The report also highlighted improvements in legal guidance and business support. Compared with 2024, the proportion of businesses receiving regular or very frequent guidance on rules of origin increased by 15.9 percentage points, while guidance on preferential tariff schedules rose by 16 percentage points. These gains reflect stronger local efforts to help businesses take advantage of FTAs.

Engagement with businesses also improved. Some 35.4 per cent of surveyed enterprises said local authorities responded to their feedback regularly or very frequently, while the share of businesses that did not participate in consultations fell by 15.3 percentage points from 2024.

MoIT said support programmes have become more focused on practical measures that directly address businesses' needs, helping improve their competitiveness and ability to utilise FTAs. — VNS

Tags Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) free trade agreements FTAs

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