HCM CITY — A buyer-seller conference to link businesses in HCM City and those in other cities and provinces will be held in Bến Tre Province from November 23 to 25.

Organised by the HCM City Department of Industry and Trade, the event will feature a seminar to discuss preliminary processing of farm produce right at suppliers’ facilities before transport to the city for consumption to reduce the volume of waste produced there.

There will be an exhibition displaying regional specialities, those with high export potential and well-known products from various cities and provinces.

The purpose of the conference this year is to create conditions for farmers, co-operative groups, agro-forestry-fishery co-operatives in cities and provinces to connect with domestic and foreign distributors, and develop a distribution chain for their produce meeting VietGap, GlobalGap and HACCP standards.

It is also an opportunity for HCM City businesses to continue scouring for speciality goods to supply the city’s market, the department said.

Besides, it would help strengthen the food supply chain to enable more safe food products at reasonable prices to enter kitchens at the city’s industrial parks and processing zones and enterprises with a large workforce, it said.

Industry and trade departments of provinces and cities will assess and draw up a list of prestigious enterprises and their products in their localities.

The list then will be sent to their city counterpart for posting on www.ketnoicungcau.vn and apprising distribution systems in the city so that the latter can learn about potential suppliers before signing contracts at the event in November.

According to the department, 155 companies from seven provinces and cities have registered to take part.

Explaining why the department chose to organise the event in Bến Tre Province instead of in HCM City unlike in past years, a department official said Bến Tre is a trade hub between the city and cities and provinces in the south-western region and also a supplier of diverse farm produce and foods to the city market.

Therefore, organising the conference there would enable more farmers and farm owners in the region to display and introduce their products, he said.

To facilitate travel from HCM City to the event, the organisers will arrange 15 free shuttle buses for traders and distributors from Bình Điền, Thủ Đức and Hóc Môn wholesale markets.

More than 2,760 businesses from 39 cities and provinces participated in the event last year, the department said.

Held since 2011, the annual programme has greatly helped improve product quality and meet consumers’ requirements. — VNS