Taiwan – a potential but difficult market to penetrate Vietnamese businesses should improve product quality and be proactive in learning about Taiwan and enhance their competitive edge in order to successfully penetrate the market.                                     The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT)’ Asia-Pacific Market Department has made the remark while stating that Taiwan is a potential market but not easy to access due to its strict food safety and hygiene standards, tax policies, and non-tariffs for agro-forestry and seafood imports. The department said Vietnam always considers Taiwan to be one of its important trade and investment partners. Taiwan is currently Vietnam’s fifth largest trade partner and ranks 16th among the country’s largest exporters. The statistics have proved that Vietnam should focus on promoting exports and fully tap the potential market. Over the past 20 years, different economic development levels have made the structure of goods exchange between the two nations vast but highly supplementary to each other. Vietnam’s major exports to Taiwan included telephones and components, garments and textiles, agro-forestry-fishery products, rubber, equipment, machine, paper, wood, footwear, ceramics, computers and components with low export value. The department reports that Taiwan serves as a bridge allowing Vietnamese products to penetrate European, American and East Asian markets. In addition, the consumer demands of the 200,000 Vietnamese community) (making up 1% of Taiwan’s population) will contribute to boosting bilateral trade and disseminating information on Taiwanese consumer habits. VOV