FTA Index 2025 · Provincial Brief
Nghe An
Provincial performance in implementing free trade agreements
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Performance tier
Fair
Fair
Band 4 of 6 — 8th of 34 assessed provinces and cities.
Overall score
The score is 4.95 points above the national average of 21.66.
Strongest pillar
5/ 34
Support policies — 1.11 points above the national average.
Four component indexes at a glance
A
Information access
Rank 7 / 34
6.24
/ 10
+1.44 vs avg
B
Implementation of Legal Documents
Rank 8 / 34
6.36
/ 10
+1.15 vs avg
C
Policies Supporting Enterprises' FTA Utilisation
Rank 5 / 34
6.93
/ 10
+1.11 vs avg
D
Sustainable development commitments
Rank 11 / 34
7.11
/ 10
+1.15 vs avg
★ Key strengths
#4
C3/C4 — FTA utilisation activities & FTA commitments utilised
#4
D2 — Perceived impact of sustainable development commitments
#5
A7/B6 — Quality of FTA-related events & Enterprise feedback on legal documents related to FTA commitments
#7
A5/B5/C1 — Frequency of participation in FTA-related events, Frequency of participation in training on legal documents, FTA utilisation
Critical areas for improvement
#23
C5 — Barriers to FTA utilisation
#17
A1/A9 — Knowledge of FTAs & Quality of FTA-related information on the online portal
#16
B1 — Understanding of legal documents
#15
D4 — Effectiveness of support from local authorities
Source: FTA Index 2025; scale 1–5; ranks out of 34 provinces
01
Overview of the result
Nghe An scored 26.61 out of 40, ranking 8th of 34, and was placed in the Fair tier. The province sits 4.95 points above the national average of 21.66. Nghe An is among the provinces with a genuinely rounded FTA implementation record: all four pillars come in above the mean. Support policies is the standout pillar, ranking 5th nationally. The province's notable strength lies in firms' capacity to use FTAs: both FTA utilisation activities and FTA commitments utilised sit in the leading group. The remaining headroom is mainly in reducing barriers to utilisation and turning sustainability awareness into concrete compliance capacity.
Nghe An
National average
A
Information access
+1.44
B
Implementation of Legal Documents
+1.15
C
Policies Supporting Enterprises' FTA Utilisation
+1.11
D
Sustainable development commitments
+1.15
02
Detailed analysis by component index
A
Component Index 1
Information access
6.24 / 10
Rank 7 / 34 · +1.44
Overview
The province's strength lies in the quality of FTA-related information and events: event quality ranks 5th, forecasting information quality ranks 6th, and frequency of event participation ranks 7th. Information provided by local authorities and the range of information-access channels are also relatively good. Knowledge of FTAs and the quality of FTA-related information on the online portal, however, still need to improve if the information system is to reach further into the business community.
By firm type
FDI firms are the most engaged with, and most satisfied by, FTA-related information. Participation in communication events also rises with firm size: large firms tend to use official channels such as conferences, official websites and local agency notices, while small firms depend more on press, television and social media.
+1.44 vs avg
National rank by indicator
#5 Quality of FTA-related events
#6 Quality of forecasting and market-orientation information from local authorities
#10 Sources of information on FTA-related events
#16 Quality of FTA information relative to business needs
#17 Knowledge of FTAs
B
Component Index 2
Implementation of Legal Documents
6.36 / 10
Rank 8 / 34 · +1.15
Overview
The province's strength lies in its system of guidance and dialogue with firms: enterprise feedback on legal documents related to FTA commitments ranks 5th, participation in training ranks 7th, the quality of guidance on legal documents ranks 8th, and local authorities' uptake of enterprise feedback for updating those documents ranks 9th. Firms also find compliance relatively manageable, with the complexity indicator ranking 6th. Understanding of the legal documents, however, sits closer to the middle than the support indicators do.
By firm type
Rules of origin and preferential tariffs are the best understood and most widely applied content among firms in the province, especially FDI and private domestic firms. More technical areas — intellectual property, trade remedies, SPS, TBT, labour and environment — remain harder to reach, particularly for small and private domestic firms.
+1.15 vs avg
National rank by indicator
#5 Frequency of enterprise feedback on legal documents related to FTA commitments
#6 Complexity of compliance with legal documents
#9 Uptake of enterprise feedback by local authorities
#10 Frequency of local-authority guidance on legal documents
#16 Understanding of legal documents
C
Component Index 3
Policies Supporting Enterprises' FTA Utilisation
6.93 / 10
Rank 5 / 34 · +1.11
Overview
This is Nghe An's strongest pillar. The standout result is firms' genuinely substantive capacity to use FTAs: FTA utilisation ranks 7th, while FTA utilisation activities and FTA commitments utilised both rank 4th nationally. On the support side, the province also does well on policy access, the need for support programmes and policies and trade promotion reaching firms. Barriers to utilisation, however, have not gone away.
By firm type
Tariff preferences and rules of origin are the two most widely used FTA benefits across almost every group, especially FDI, private domestic and large firms. More specialised commitments — trade remedies, intellectual property, SPS, TBT, labour and environment — are exploited far less. Remaining barriers include a lack of FTA market information, difficulty reaching partners, and constraints on capital, technology, technical standards and C/O requirements.
+1.11 vs avg
National rank by indicator
#4 FTA commitments utilised
#7 Need for FTA support programmes and policies
#9 Quality of trade promotion programmes
#12 Effectiveness of support policies and programmes implemented by local authorities
#23 Barriers to FTA utilisation
D
Component Index 4
Sustainable development commitments
7.11 / 10
Rank 11 / 34 · +1.15
Overview
Firms in the province have a reasonably good base of awareness on sustainability requirements in international trade. The standout result is the perceived impact of the sustainable development commitments ( 4th), understanding of the commitments ( 7th), and the perceived importance of complying with import-market sustainable development commitments ( 11th). Readiness to comply, support effectiveness and the forms of support available to firms implementing these commitments all still need reinforcing.
By firm type
FDI and private domestic firms generally report fuller or partial understanding of the sustainability requirements, while state-owned firms report lower familiarity on several topics. Most firms expect the labour, environmental and biodiversity commitments to have a moderate to large effect on production and business activity, particularly private domestic and FDI firms.
+1.15 vs avg
National rank by indicator
#4 Perceived impact of sustainable development commitments
#7 Understanding of sustainable development commitments
#11 Perceived importance of compliance with import-market sustainable development commitments
#14 Readiness to comply with sustainable development commitments
#15 Effectiveness of support from local authorities
03
Conclusions & implications
Strengths to build on
Firms' capacity to use FTAs is relatively strong: Nghe An firms do not stop at the basic preferences but exploit a fairly diverse range of specific commitments.
The FTA support system has a good base: support policy, trade promotion programmes and responsiveness to business needs all point to reasonably effective accompaniment.
Sustainability awareness is fairly positive: firms already see how the sustainability commitments bear on business activity, giving a base on which to upgrade compliance capacity in export sectors such as wood, textiles and seafood.
Limitations to address
Barriers to FTA utilisation persist: some firms continue to struggle with market information, partners, capital, technology, technical standards and C/O requirements.
FTA knowledge needs to spread further: general knowledge of FTAs and the quality of FTA-related information on the online portal do not yet match the strong result on the information pillar.
Sustainability awareness must become concrete compliance capacity: firms still need more practical support on certification, traceability, labour, environment and import-market standards.
Next steps
Address the bottlenecks to move into the highest group
1
Remove the barriers to utilisation
Review obstacles around C/O, technical standards, market information and partner matching across the main export sectors.
Pillar C · 5th → higher
2
Raise sustainability compliance capacity
Support wood, textile and seafood firms on certification, traceability, labour, environment and import-market standards.
Pillar D · 11th → higher
Raise awareness of FTAs, the online portal and the technical commitments through the existing events, training and information channels.
Pillar A · 7th → higher
4
Strengthen provincial FTA coordination
Connect information, legal guidance, trade promotion and sustainability support through one clear, accessible point of contact for firms.
Institutional capacity
