Ensuring Equal Rights of Entities Participating in Import-Export Activities:

In the trend of integration into the regional and world economy, more sophisticated barriers such as tariffs, quotas, etc. are gradually being reduced and replaced by more sophisticated barriers such as quality regulations. Therefore, Vietnamese enterprises must improve the quality of their products to meet international standards in order to improve their competitiveness and position not only in the ASEAN market but also in the world market.

1.1.6.5. Ensuring equal rights of entities participating in import-export activities:

The dynamism and efficiency of the economy are two factors that determine the success of the integration process in the trend of trade liberalization. These two characteristics will be enhanced if the strengths of the multi-sector economic policy are fully exploited. The State economy can focus on a number of key areas such as energy, mining, telecommunications, food, etc., while other economic sectors will be encouraged to develop in the remaining areas, including the trade sector, in order to fully exploit the potential and rapid adaptability of these economic sectors.

Non-state economic sectors can contribute more to import-export activities if they participate equally with state economic sectors in economic activities. First of all, there must be complete equality in accessing input factors (credit capital, land, labor), then equality in receiving business support from the State. Therefore, the State needs to have a detailed plan in the following directions:

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- Recognizing the positive role of the non-state economy in the import-export sector. The state economy can gradually withdraw from labor-intensive industries (such as textiles and footwear) in the direction of promoting equitization.

- The state-owned economy, after being reorganized, will focus on areas requiring large investment capital and high technology to carry out its pioneering mission;

- Simplify business establishment procedures to the maximum extent possible to encourage individuals to invest in production development.

- Review regulations on land, taxes, credit, support... to ensure maximum possible equality among economic sectors.

1.1.6.6. Promote and improve the effectiveness of trade promotion activities

The State needs to manage and orient trade promotion activities. In recent years, trade promotion activities in our country have been developing step by step. The Trade Promotion Department under the Ministry of Trade was established in 2000. It can be said that up to now, in terms of institutions, trade promotion organizations in Vietnam have been formed according to a fairly complete system. However, the effectiveness of trade promotion activities in our country has not achieved the expected results. Therefore, in the coming time, the State and trade promotion organizations need to pay attention to the following points:

- Fully understanding the meaning and importance of trade promotion at all levels including central and local authorities, trade promotion organizations and enterprises in the current situation is extremely necessary. In the context of Vietnam joining AFTA with the goal of liberalizing trade and investment, not only Vietnam but all ASEAN countries are very interested in the field of trade promotion with the aim of supporting enterprises to receive business opportunities, winning in the trade competition in the region.

- Building infrastructure for trade promotion activities. Currently, in the country, including Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, there is a lack of locations with equipment, facilities and amenities to be able to organize regional and international trade exhibitions.

- Training trade promotion teams for businesses in foreign languages, international trade law knowledge, and the art of negotiation.

1.2. On the business side:

1.2.1. Choosing products to penetrate the ASEAN market:

Each business has its own strengths, so the choice of products to penetrate the ASEAN market is very different. The ASEAN market is a diverse market, and does not require too high quality products, so each business can develop its own products to penetrate this market. The problem is whether the business can take advantage of the tariff incentives as well as the procedures that AFTA and CEPT bring?

Participating in AFTA, Vietnamese enterprises face fierce competition from other ASEAN enterprises, so they need to choose their strongest products to focus on investing, improving product quality, and reducing costs. Because the goods of Vietnamese and ASEAN enterprises are relatively similar, if Vietnamese enterprises want to win in the regional market, their products must not only meet the market's requirements for quality and price, but also be unique in features and designs compared to similar products in the regional market. The success of a product depends on the extent to which the product satisfies consumer needs and how different it is from competitors' products.

Furthermore, because the tariff incentives of the ASEAN free trade area are mainly for processed products, not encouraging raw and semi-processed products, when building products to penetrate the ASEAN market, Vietnamese enterprises should focus on processed products to make the most of the incentives that AFTA brings, in order to be able to compete with enterprises when AFTA is completed.

The products that enterprises choose to export to the ASEAN market must take into account the financial capacity of the enterprise to have an appropriate investment plan. They should not choose products that exceed the investment capacity of the enterprise, but should choose one or a few key products that the enterprise understands well and is suitable for its capital to focus on investment, technological innovation, quality improvement, and product cost reduction. Enterprises must grasp the product demand of each country in the region as well as the overall demand of the ASEAN market.

In the immediate future, Vietnamese enterprises need to choose products in which Vietnam has a comparative advantage over other countries, such as: labor-intensive products (garments, leather shoes, etc.), products with readily available and easily exploited domestic raw materials for export (agricultural products, seafood, etc.), or products that can import raw materials from ASEAN countries to take advantage of tax incentives from these inputs. In addition, Vietnamese enterprises can also immediately exploit the intellectual resources of young Vietnamese intellectuals to invest in exporting products in software technology, post and telecommunications, etc.

1.2.2. Improve product quality, increase product competitiveness:

Improving product quality and competitiveness of goods is a matter of survival, a key task when Vietnamese enterprises want to survive in the market economy and bring products to ASEAN. Vietnamese goods have less competitive advantages due to many different reasons. Among them are objective reasons, requiring the impact and support of the State, but the key is that enterprises themselves must find ways to improve product quality, increase the competitiveness of their products through technological innovation, improving labor productivity, improving management methods and investing in research and development to create different products.

Improving the quality of goods and services is a problem for all businesses in the current period when the quality of goods and services is in the trend of integration and competition. To have the quality of goods and services meeting international standards, businesses must implement strict regulations in the field of quality measurement standards.

To improve product quality, Vietnamese enterprises need to implement the following solutions:

- Investment in technological innovation.

- Increase investment in researching the needs of ASEAN markets to determine the correct quality requirements. First of all, collect

Initial information for research and improvement in terms of design, packaging, convenience, aesthetics, etc., does not necessarily have to be high quality to be good, but must have optimal product quality - that is, to maximally meet the demands of consumers at low cost. Enterprises should produce goods with different quality levels at prices that differentiate them from consumers. Therefore, it is necessary to study the market needs of each ASEAN member to determine the correct quality requirements, from which to have appropriate design improvement plans. ASEAN countries have different levels of economic development, and the living standards of each country are also different, so each country's requirements for product quality as well as price acceptance for each type of product are different. Currently, in our country, the design stage is a weak stage, not yet focused on encouraging investment. Vietnamese enterprises can improve product quality through product design in two ways: one is to diversify designs, sizes, and types; Second is to create new products with new features and benefits, thereby improving the product's suitability for the business.

- Enterprises need to analyze and evaluate their internal strength, products and services according to SWOT, that is, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and risks both internally and externally to build key export products for enterprises in the region. When building their key export products, enterprises need to build increasingly improved products to increase the proportion of processed goods, make the most of raw materials originating from ASEAN member countries so that the products can enjoy incentives under CEPT, contributing to reducing product costs and increasing competitiveness in the ASEAN market.

- Control and improve the quality of input factors, especially raw materials collected in the domestic market to serve processing factories. Product quality is the result of a synthesis of many factors including: Quality of production machinery and equipment, quality of raw materials, technical parameters, packaging, packaging design, etc. Thus, improving the quality of input factors

Input factors of the production process play an important role in improving product quality and increasing product competitiveness in the ASEAN market.

- Building a quality management system that meets the international standard ISO 9000: ISO is a set of standards of the International Organization for Standardization including standards that stipulate criteria for evaluating a quality assurance system of an organization, including production, business, services and agencies, units, schools, institutes, etc. ISO 9000 has been widely accepted and applied in the world, including Vietnam. The ISO9000 standard set includes 24 standards, guiding businesses to build a management system to ensure stable quality for products and services. ISO 9000 is one of the best quality management tools, it has a practical effect on human rights. ISO 9000 will help create momentum for businesses to improve the quality of products and services, and enhance competitiveness in the domestic and regional markets.

1.2.3. Technological innovation in business

Selectively invest in technology to improve product quality at optimal cost. In the current conditions of Vietnamese enterprises, investment in technological innovation is a decisive factor in product quality. Because in recent years, the goal of product quality has been focused on, many enterprises have invested in technological innovation, thereby maintaining and expanding the market, increasing competitiveness. However, investment in technological innovation is at a low level and is local and sporadic because the products of enterprises do not have a large, stable market, so they do not dare to invest heavily. Due to lack of capital, lack of market information and low internal capacity of enterprises, investment in technological innovation for export products to improve quality is still the number one issue of concern and needs to focus on the following directions:

- The technology portfolio is based on the business strategy of the enterprise and the world's technology development trend to select appropriate technology, to

produce quality products that meet the needs of the ASEAN market on the basis of cost savings. Enterprises need to invest synchronously and completely in each technological line of important and key products, avoiding widespread investment that will lead to high debt and inefficiency.

- Investment in technological innovation must go hand in hand with the process of acquiring new technology and synchronously reorganizing production and management. Prepare a team of technical staff and train workers to be able to operate and use technology most effectively. Industry plays an important role in the production process, helping businesses save production costs, improve labor productivity and product quality. Each business needs to correctly assess its technological status, on that basis, businesses set out strategies and plans to invest in new technology or invest in depth in technological innovation.

- Carry out small continuous improvements according to the motto anytime, anywhere with everyone. Improving product quality in enterprises requires continuous implementation to meet the increasingly fierce competition in the market. Product quality competition must go hand in hand with price competition. Mobilizing all members of enterprises to participate in implementing small quality improvement strategies is appropriate, because small improvements can be everyone's idea. It is necessary to organize initiative mailboxes and initiative groups at the same time as disseminating market information to employees.

- Enterprises need to proactively approach technology through the active and more effective use of online information systems. Although e-commerce has just appeared, it is developing rapidly and has great potential. E-commerce has many advantages and is truly a new tool for the export promotion strategy of enterprises. First of all, sellers and buyers are directly connected to each other, without space and time constraints, so enterprises can improve the efficiency of the market research process. Thanks to e-commerce, export enterprises

Exporting reduces advertising costs, transportation costs, etc. Although it will take a long time for Vietnamese enterprises to participate in exporting goods via the Internet, from now on, Vietnamese enterprises must be aware of the trend of this modern business method and fully prepare capital, foreign languages, and information technology factors to be ready for integration.

- The most important issue is how enterprises can innovate technology in conditions of limited capital. The model of technological equipment innovation effectively applied at the Southern Rubber Industry Company can be a suggestion for enterprises. This method is included in three main activities: Import, research and manufacture. Normally, for a type of equipment, the company imports two units, one is put into operation, one is surveyed. When surveying like that, if there are any details that can be produced in Vietnam, the company will draw up a drawing to find a manufacturer, each manufacturer will make one or more details, and the company will assemble them into a production line. The important thing is that the product quality must not be inferior to imported equipment. With this method, the Southern Rubber Industry Company has built and innovated most of its production equipment with technology from advanced countries but at Vietnamese prices to meet the quality standards required by foreign markets. It can be seen that an equally important issue besides capital for technological innovation is human resources. Enterprises should have a strategy to attract scientists, manufacturing engineers, etc. to cooperate with them in researching and reproducing modern foreign technology.

1.2.4. Invest in research on ASEAN market

If a business wants to do business successfully in any market, it must first understand that market in terms of product demand and taste, quality and price requirements of the total consumer group for the product, and at the same time understand similar products available on the market. From there, the business can have a plan.

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