Lam Dong
Provincial performance in implementing free trade agreements
Overview of the result
Lam Dong scored 20.66 out of 40 points, ranking 20th out of 34 provinces and cities and belonging to the "Moderate" group. The locality's results are generally relatively stable across three pillars, while indicating several aspects with room for improvement, prominently forecasting work and the quality of market information serving import-export activities. For a province in the Central Highlands, where many agricultural products target international markets with frequently changing requirements and trends, continuing to enhance forecasting information delivery capacity can bring significant improvements. On the positive side, the quality of activities supporting firms in utilizing FTAs is relatively good (ranked 11th), while knowledge of sustainable development also reached above the national average (ranked 13th). Overall, results indicate Lam Dong possesses several favorable foundations; continuing to bridge the gap in forecasting and market information can contribute to improving the province's standing in the coming time.
Detailed analysis by component index
The quality of information accessed by firms generally achieved relatively positive results: FTA information quality (A4) was rated quite well by firms, ranking 11th, while the quality of FTA communication events (A7) ranked 13th. These results show that information content and communication activities have somewhat met firms' access needs. However, the ability of firms to receive information from state agencies (A2) ranked 30th and forms of information access (A3) ranked 23rd, indicating that there is still room to improve delivery methods and expand information accessibility. In particular, the gap between favorably rated information quality and the ability to access information from certain channels suggests that improving delivery effectiveness could help firms better utilize existing information sources.
The level of firms grasping legal documents (B1) is a relatively positive point, ranking 12th, showing that businesses have a fairly good foundation of understanding regarding FTA-related regulations. On the other hand, indicators regarding accompanying and supportive activities from management agencies are mainly concentrated in the average group: frequency of guidance from management agencies (B2) ranked 19th, receiving firms' feedback (B7) ranked 20th, and frequency of firms providing feedback and recommendations on mechanisms and policies (B6) ranked 21st. Guidance quality (B3) and simplicity of regulatory compliance (B4) are both ranked 22nd–23rd. Overall, results show that firms' awareness foundation is relatively favorable, while support mechanisms and two-way interaction still have room for continued improvement. Strengthening substantive guidance, creating more feedback channels, and simplifying compliance processes could help better transform existing understanding into practical implementation capacity.
Results show that the locality has met several basic requirements relatively well in supporting firms to utilize FTAs: barriers in utilizing FTAs at a low level (C5) ranked 10th, unmet support needs at a low level (C8) ranked 11th, and trade promotion activity quality (C9.2) ranked 14th. However, the effectiveness of support policies and programs (C7) ranked 26th, while trade promotion frequency (C9.1) ranked 22nd, indicating that there is still room to improve the effectiveness and regularity of support activities. Overall, the support ecosystem has a relatively stable foundation, reflected in comparatively low barriers and unmet support needs. The next step can focus on improving implementation quality and strengthening connections, thereby helping firms move from accessing support to actively and broadly exploiting FTAs.
This pillar has the most positive results and is the only component reaching above the national average. Firms' knowledge of sustainable development commitments (D1) ranked 13th, while state support work (D4) ranked 14th. These are relatively favorable results, showing that firms have established a certain foundation in accessing and adapting to sustainable development requirements. In the context of environmental standards in international markets receiving increasing attention and refinement, this foundation can create favorable conditions for export enterprises to continue enhancing compliance capacity in the coming time.