Clothing and apparel is expected to remain the country's top export itemin the foreseeable future, contributing almost 20 percent of theprojected growth in total merchandise exports in the decade to 2030,according to an HSBC report.

Global Trade Connection, released onJune 4, said Vietnam has also built up a strong presence in the globalmarket for telecommunications in recent years and this should put it in agood position to meet rising demand for consumer goods in emergingAsia.

Indeed, behind clothing and apparel, ICT equipment willmake the second largest contribution to Vietnam's export growth in2015-30. Vietnam's geographical location in Asia, with good access toIndia, China and Southeast Asia, leaves it well placed to trade withfast-growing neighbours.

It is anticipated that the country'sfastest-growing export destinations in the decade to 2030 will be China,India and Malaysia, with exports to all these growing by at least 14percent a year.

Within emerging Asia, trade liberalisation hasrisen in recent years and free-trade negotiations between ASEAN membersare well under way.

Though the US remained Vietnam's largestexport market, China is forecast to become Vietnam's largest exportdestination by 2030.

The report forecast China's economy to growby 5.5 percent a year in the decade to 2030, slower than in the decadeto 2014 but still a healthy pace.

Vietnam's location and strongfoothold in both clothing and telecoms means it is well-placed to accessthis buoyant consumer market.

The US and Vietnam enjoyhistorically strong commercial linkages, and by 2030 the US will stillaccount for 15 percent of Vietnam's exports. The two are among the 12countries currently negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).Once the agreement is finalised, Vietnam's exports will become even morecompetitive in the US, probably boosting trade between the twocountries.

According to the annual World Economic Forum GlobalCompetitiveness report, Vietnam's score for infrastructure has improvedover the last decade, supported by higher FDI inflows and reflectingstrong growth. However, it still ranks only 81st in infrastructure outof 144 countries in the latest report, well behind Thailand (48th) andIndonesia (56th).

Substantial infrastructure development meansindustrial machinery will continue to be Vietnam's largest import sectorthrough 2030, contributing around a quarter of import growth over theforecast period.

The next two most important import sectors willbe textiles and ICT equipment, supporting Vietnam's export base in thesesectors.

China and the Republic of Korea, emerging Asia's twoleading export nations over the last decade, will continue to beVietnam's largest import partners through 2030. As well as having strongfootholds in the global market for industrial machinery, the twocountries also present relatively easy transport logistics, with Chinasharing a border with Vietnam and the RoK just a short journey by sea.By late 2015, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, afree-trade agreement being negotiated among ASEAN countries and the sixstates with which ASEAN has existing trade agreements, is due to befinalised and this should give a further boost to regional trade.

Importsfrom India will also grow strongly, contributing 14 percent of totalimport growth in the decade to 2030, propelling India past Singapore tobecome Vietnam's third largest import partner.

Mobile phones andassociated items accounted for 16 percent of Vietnam's exports in 2014,while electronics, computers and components accounted for another 8percent, leaving the electronics sector accounting for a quarter ofVietnam's total exports.

Both exports and imports of electronicsare forecast to grow by around 11 percent per annum over the 2015-30period, slightly ahead of headline growth in trade flows.

Vietnamran a small trade surplus in electronics and this is expected to risegradually over the forecast period. The growth of the ICT sector hasbeen led by Samsung, which first opened a 2.5 billion USD mobile phoneplant in Vietnam in 2009.

This plant has doubled its output each year since then and another 2 billion USD plant was built in 2013.

InQ4 2014 the RoK giant announced plans for two more factories: a 600million USD facility manufacturing household appliances and a 3 billionUSD smart phone plant.

ICT companies are able to take advantageof the country's large and low-cost but well-educated workforce, andinvestment has increasingly been aimed at services and consumer productsto take advantage of the expanding young market.

LG electronics and Microsoft also have operations in Vietnam and plans to expand.

Vietnamis a signatory to the WTO's Information Technology Agreement (ITA) andhas scrapped tariffs on around 250 electronic goods covered by theaccord.

Under the terms of its WTO accession, the country hasagreed to eliminate tariffs on half the electronic goods considered aspart of the ITA expansion.

The authorities are currently focusingtheir attention on the TPP, which is likely to boost exports in themedium term. The telecom, IT and e-commerce sectors have been identifiedas a key area of focus for the TPP.

The Government remainscommitted to streamlining State-owned enterprises (SOEs) and curbing SOEborrowing, and the need to ensure firms meet the terms of the TPPshould give this trend extra impetus and improve private firms' creditsupply.-VNA