At the press conference for the Vietnam Manufacturing Expo (VME). — VNS Photo Thu Trà

HÀ NỘI — The 14th Vietnam Manufacturing Expo (VME) and the 10th Việt Nam-Japan Supporting Industry Exhibition will return to the capital city in August.

VME 2023 is one of the leading exhibitions on machinery and technology for manufacturing. This year will see the participation of more than 200 exhibitors including producers, distributors and machine manufacturers from 20 countries, the event's organiser RX Tradex Co said.

The Việt Nam-Japan Supporting Industry Exhibition, hosted by the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) Office in Hà Nội and the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT)'s Trade Promotion Agency will attract nearly 50 enterprises from Việt Nam and Japan.

Việt Nam's industrial sector has made significant improvements thanks to the State's mechanisms and policies, Director of Trade Promotion Agency Vũ Bá Phú.

The country is now home to about 2,000 enterprises manufacturing spare parts and components. Of them, 300 have participated in global support chains, providing more than 600,000 jobs, Phú said at the press conference in Hà Nội on Tuesday.

In recent years, supporting industries have significantly contributed to the development of the country's economy. Businesses have continuously tried to improve product quality, strengthen competitiveness, and meet strict market requirements, he said.

The MoIT has actively implemented effective support programmes to enhance production and management capacity for businesses and collaborate with multinational corporations and large FDI companies in Việt Nam. This has led to improvements in the quality of human resources and enhancements in the competitive capacity of Vietnamese enterprises in the processing and manufacturing industries.

An example is the co-operation project to assist Vietnamese enterprises in the automotive supporting industries with Toyota Vietnam.

He added that the ministry has also established three technical support centres for industrial development in the three northern, central and southern economic regions. These centres aimed to help enterprises in supporting industries accelerate innovation, technology transfer for production and testing, and improve productivity and quality while seeking to participate in the global supply chains.

At the same time, the Ministry has also helped build connections between domestic supporting enterprises with FDI investors through trade promotion activities and business-matching events.

According to Phú, the Việt Nam-Japan Supporting Industry Exhibition (SIE) will help Vietnamese firms in supporting industries connect with Japanese partners and enhance their production capacities.

The chief representative of JETRO Office in Hà Nội Takeo Nakajima said the percentage of domestic procurement in Việt Nam for Japanese companies increased to 37 per cent in 2022 from 28 per cent 10 years ago as per a JETRO survey.

However, the rate remained low compared with the economic growth of the two countries, he said.

During this year's SIE, 22 Japanese exhibitors will express their desire to buy goods from local manufacturers. Meanwhile, 28 Vietnamese manufacturers in the supporting industry will display their products and introduce their supply capabilities.

The two expos will take place from August 9-11 at Hanoi International Centre for Exhibition. — VNS