Nguyen Quoc Hung, Qingpaev R.S., Yakovlev A.A. Vietnam's participation in the comprehensive regional economic partnership (CEP). Influence on the improvement of the sectoral structure of the region

Abstract

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) was officially signed (November 2020) between 10 ASEAN member countries and 5 bloc partners, namely China, Japan and South Korea, Australia and New Zealand (with the exception of India, which announced its withdrawal from agreements). When the RCEP Agreement was implemented, it created a large market with 2.2 billion consumers, which is about 30% of the world’s population, with a GDP of about $26.2 trillion, which is about 30% of the world’s GDP, became the largest free trade area in the world. The RCEP agreement will contribute to the creation of a new trade structure in the region, promoting globalization towards trade liberalization and facilitation in a sustainable manner. The article analyzes the opportunities and challenges of Vietnam’s accession to the RCEP. The author uses a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, including: generalization, analysis, comparison, using available documents and data on imports, exports and investments to assess Vietnam’s foreign trade turnover and investment; thereby evaluating the impact, opportunities and challenges of the RCEP Agreement. Using trade indicators such as the Export Similarity Index and the Trade Complementarity Index to assess the current state and potential of Vietnam’s trade with some key RCEP partners. On the positive side, RCEP creates many opportunities for Vietnamese enterprises to access the supply of raw materials, machinery and equipment from RCEP member countries at more competitive prices, thereby saving money, increasing the efficiency of production and business of enterprises. Along with this, the implementation of the RCEP also brings certain challenges, such as creating great competitive pressure in the domestic market, exacerbating the trade deficit, when partners with whom Vietnam already has a deficit have the largest trade deficit in the RCEP region. The author of the article comes to the conclusion that the effective use of opportunities and overcoming difficulties in the implementation of RCEP will have a comprehensive impact on the Vietnamese economy, thereby helping Vietnam to participate more actively in regional and global production value chains.