In response to the feedback from businesses about difficulties in the circulation of dairy products, the Special Task Force of the Ministry of Industry and Trade received comments and forwarded them to the Steering Committee for handling.

According to Vietnam Dairy Products Joint Stock Company (Vinamilk), after the southern provinces and cities applied Directive 16 to fight the epidemic, some localities did not allow many milk stores to operate because they were not essential goods.

Accordingly, the transportation of milk and dairy products in Ho Chi Minh City and provinces in the Mekong Delta region through checkpoints/quarantine stations also encountered many difficulties. Many trucks and motorbikes were required to turn back to their units, and were even fined for administrative violations for transporting non-essential goods.

In order to promptly remove difficulties and support the quick handling of problems of businesses, on July 27, the Special Task Force had a working session with Vinamilk to receive opinions from businesses and propose solutions. The special working group received feedback from the Vietnam Dairy Association and Vietnam Dairy Products Joint Stock Company Vinamilk on difficulties in business activities, transportation of milk and dairy products, and forwarded them to the Steering Committee to propose to the Government and relevant ministries and branches to resolve them.

Removing difficulties for businesses in the circulation of dairy products

In response to the opinions of businesses, in order to quickly resolve difficulties in the transportation and circulation of goods, on the same day, the Ministry of Industry and Trade promptly issued Official Dispatch 4481/BCT-TTTN dated July 27, 2021 to the Departments of Industry and Trade of provinces and centrally-run cities to guide on essential goods and services; Official Dispatch No. 4482/BCT-TTTN dated July 27, 2021 sent to the Prime Minister on the circulation of goods when implementing social distancing according to Directive No. 16/CT-TTg proposed to the Government to handle the existing problems causing traffic congestion at traffic checkpoints.

In addition, in response to the request of enterprises that cannot apply for priority identification cards to transport goods according to regulations, the Working Group proposed and coordinated with the Ministry of Transport to issue Document No. 7630/BGTVT-VT dated July 27, 2021 on facilitating the transportation of essential goods, shuttle buses for workers and experts to circulate smoothly when going to, coming from or passing through areas implementing Directive No. 16/CT-TTg. Accordingly, vehicles transporting essential goods when circulating between localities, if they have registered for a priority identification card but have not been granted one, can still circulate normally, only need to perform rapid COVID-19 testing.

However, in some localities, the implementation of this regulation is not thorough and consistent when some stations and checkpoints still require a priority identification card to be allowed to circulate, leading to congestion of vehicles, not being able to provide essential goods in time, causing damage to businesses. From there, the Special Task Force proposed that the Steering Committee recommend that the Government direct the People's Committees of provinces and cities to direct districts, departments, branches and related units to strictly implement the Guiding Documents No. 4481/BCT-TTTN, Document No. 7630/BGTVT-VT.

On July 29, 2021, the Government Office issued Official Dispatch No. 5187/VPCP-CN on facilitating the transportation of goods in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Accordingly, all types of goods serving production, business and daily life activities of people are transported and circulated (except for goods prohibited from trading according to the provisions of law), which has basically removed the biggest problem in the past time, which is causing congestion at checkpoints, contributing to ensuring the dual goal of both epidemic prevention and economic development of the Government.