CẦN THƠ — As many as 120 businesses from 20 countries are expected to participate in the Aquaculture Việt Nam 2017 Exhibition, scheduled to take place in the Mekong Delta city of Cần Thơ in October.

The organising board for the event on Wednesday announced that the three-day fair would start on October 25, 2017, at the Cần Thơ International Exhibition Fair Centre.

It will be held jointly by the Việt Nam Fisheries Society, UBM Asia Company — one of Asia’s leading exhibition organisers, and the International Collaborating Centre for Aquaculture and Fisheries Sustainability.

The participants will present technology and equipment that will aid aquaculture production, veterinary medicine for fisheries, breeding, as well as food processing and testing facilities, among others.

Several international conferences on aquaculture will also be held at the event for local and foreign experts, and businesses to help them update knowledge, share experiences, introduce new products and advanced technology, and discuss matters of concern.

According to the Việt Nam Fisheries Society (VFS), aquaculture contributed 3 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product in 2016.

VFS chairman Nguyễn Việt Thắng said that the Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta region was a hub for the country’s fisheries sector, accounting for 70 per cent of the total revenue from aquatic exports.

Under the circumstance that climate change has aggravated, the area for agriculture production has been reduced by saline intrusion, and thus the potentiality for developing aquaculture is even greater.

The export turnover of aquatic products increased 7.4 per cent year-on-year, reaching US$7.05 billion.

The figure is expected to rise 5 per cent this year, hitting $7.5 billion, 65 per cent of which would come from local aquaculture. — VNS