Swiss-funded project offers help to SMEs
Viet Nam’s exports had increased continuously, especially the shipments of manufactured and processed goods.— Photo bizlive.vn
HA NOI (VNS) — The development of regional export and production plans can help Viet Nam’s small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) become more competitive, a workshop held in Ha Noi heard yesterday.
The workshop was organised by the Department of Trade Promotion under the Ministry of Industry and Trade to discuss implementation of a Swiss-funded trade promotion project.
The three-year (2013-2016) project, using non-refundable official development assistance (ODA) provided by the Swiss Government, is being carried out in the northern city of Hai Phong, the central city of Da Nang and the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta city of Can Tho.
Miroslav Delaporte, Chief Representative of the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) in Viet Nam, said the project helped improve the skills and capacities of trade promotion agencies and trade organisations in the three localities.
It would help develop production plans for selected products and sectors chosen for their export potential based on in-depth assessments, he said.
The workshop also discussed measures to enhance the export capacity of local enterprises.
Regional export plans and detailed action plans would be developed for localities in the North, Central and Southwest from 2015 onwards to promote the production of goods with high export potential, the workshop heard.
Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Cam Tu informed the workshop that Viet Nam’s export turnover in 2013 reached US$264.26 billion, up 15.7 per cent over 2012.
Since 2011, the country’s export turnover had increased by $20 billion each year, he said.
Viet Nam’s exports had increased continuously, especially the shipments of manufactured and processed goods. In general, the export of raw materials had decreased and that of value added goods had increased, Tu said.
The Government had contributed to expanding the range of export goods by negotiating free trade agreements with the nation’s trade partners, he added. — VNS