It is the largest ever online trade promotion event in the food and agricultural product sector. — Photo baoxaydung.com.vn

HÀ NỘI — The Việt Nam Trade Promotion Agency (Vietrade), in coordination with overseas Vietnamese trade offices and the US Agency for International Development (USAID), is hosting an online international trade promotion conference for Vietnamese food and agricultural products.

The four-day event, which opened on Tuesday, has drawn the participation of enterprises from 28 export markets of Việt Nam, along with businesses from 12 Vietnamese provinces and cities.  

Vietrade Director Vũ Bá Phú said this is the largest ever online trade promotion event in the food and agricultural product sector.

He noted that the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the supply chains in the sector, while demand for food has not decreased.

Therefore, Vietrade has been holding a series of online trade promotion conferences to assist domestic agricultural and food businesses in maintaining connections with markets, thus easing the negative impacts of the pandemic.

The conference will include a plenary session which provides Vietnamese businesses with information on prospects and consumption trends of Vietnamese good and agricultural products in foreign markets, while foreign companies will get updated on the potential and strength of Vietnamese products.

Besides, one-on-one business matching sessions will be held between Vietnamese suppliers and foreign importers.

Trade promotion for SMEs

Online trade promotion is considered crucial to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) enhance trade activities and expand export markets amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Tô Hoài Nam, standing vice-chairman cum general secretary of the Việt Nam Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (VINASME), told Công thương (Industry and Trade) newspaper.

However, local SMEs have limited capital so they face many difficulties in applying digitalisation to trade promotion programme and export activities, Nam said. Therefore, VINASME has proposed the Ministry of Industry and Trade put a project on supporting SMEs in carrying out export activities with a B2B e-commerce channel into the National Trade Promotion Programme this year.

The programme aims to help local export goods traders and producers advertise export goods on the world market. The association will build a B2B e-commerce site based with Global Sources, a US e-commerce corporation. VINASME and Global Sources will choose 20 companies with products meeting the criteria of design, quality, prestige and friendly environment to sell at this e-commerce floor from this September to the end of September 2021.

The programme is for manufacturers and traders in advantageous and labour-intensive sectors such as textiles, footwear, handicrafts, furniture and plastic. 

Besides that, the association has also developed online trade promotion activities instead of arranging Vietnamese business delegations to participate in international trade fairs and exhibitions as before.

The association has implemented many programmes, such as supports for SMEs in increasing export opportunities via the internet as well as doing business via B2B e-commerce sites.

According to Nam, State agencies need to better explain advantages of online trade promotion programme and e-commerce activities, organise training courses on e-commerce business executives for businesses, and provide financial support for businesses in implementing digital transformation and taking business opportunities. — VNS