HCM CITY — Nineteen European food and beverage (F&B) companies are visiting Việt Nam to explore partnerships with local importers and distributors.

The EU-Việt Nam Business Network yesterday organised the 4th edition of the Food & Beverage Trade Mission to Việt Nam, which will be held in HCM City and Hà Nội until February 2.

This year’s trade mission includes companies from Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Portugal and the United Kingdom.

Topics to be discussed at the information seminar will be the growth potential of Việt Nam’s food and beverage industry, financial benefits that will derive from the soon-to-be-implemented EU-Việt Nam Free Trade Agreement and imports of European products to Việt Nam.

More than 230 B2B meetings with Vietnamese distributors and importers based in Hà Nội and HCM City, as well as business visits to supermarkets and shopping malls, will follow the four-day event.

The business network is co-funded by the European Union, which aims to strengthen European business activities in Việt Nam, with a special focus on small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) seeking co-operation opportunities in Việt Nam.

Since 2015, the last three editions of the network’s Food & Beverage Trade Mission have welcomed 62 European companies.

The network aims to improve the investment and trade environment, support exports and expand investment markets from Europe to Việt Nam and ASEAN.

Target groups are European companies, especially SMEs, interested in Việt Nam and ASEAN.

While the project is based in Việt Nam, the business network also works with an ASEAN network of business associations, to provide even more business opportunities to European companies. — VNS