Delegates at the opening ceremony of the Vietnam National Brand Week in HCM City on April 19. — VNS Photo

HCM CITY — The Vietnam Value Programme has brought home to businesses the importance of brands, which hold the key to increasing the value of products and enterprises, said Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Đỗ Thắng Hải.

“The number of Vietnamese enterprises with products recognised as national brand has risen from 30 in 2008 to 124 now and to 283 products," he told the opening ceremony of the Vietnam National Brand Week which is organised from May 19 to 25 in HCM City. 

The Vietnam Value Programme, implemented since 2003, aims to build the image of Việt Nam as a country with high-quality goods and services and enhancing the prestige of its enterprises both at home and abroad.

According to Brand Finance, a leading global brand valuation and strategy consultancy, in 2020 Việt Nam’s national brand was valued at US$319 billion, up 29 per cent from 2019 and nine places to 33rd in the National Brands list of the world’s 100 most valuable brands, he said.

Samir Dixit, managing director of Brand Finance Asia-Pacific, said in his company’s 2021 Global Soft Power Index Report, Việt Nam is the only country in Southeast Asia to improve its soft power ranking from 2020.

Its ranking moved up from 50th place out of 60 countries in 2020 to 47th place out of 105 in 2021.

According to Brand Finance, soft power is “a nation’s ability to influence the preferences and behaviours of various actors in the international arena through attraction or persuasion rather than coercion.”

Speaking at the National Brand Forum, held as part of the Vietnam National Brand Week, Nguyễn Sơn Trà from the ministry’s Multilateral Trade Policy Department said, “Commitments under CPTPP and EVFTA have helped promote the Vietnamese brand in export markets.”

To build their brands, besides focusing on product quality and prices, businesses also need to focus on factors like social responsibility, environmental protection and sustainable development, she added.

Phạm S, vice chairman of the Lâm Đồng Province People’s Committee, said, “Branding is the golden key that helps firms open doors to new markets.”

Vũ Bá Phú, director general of the Việt Nam Trade Promotion Agency, said his agancy and the ministry would continue to provide support to enterprises with products and services recognised as national brand to promote their exports.

They would also organise activities to increase awareness among consumers about the programme and ‘Việt Nam Value’ products through various domestic and international media channels, he said.

The 2021 Việt Nam National Brand Week includes the Vietnam National Brand Forum, a seminar on how to leverage Vietnamese brands and activities to popularise the National Brand Programme.

The event is expected to help promote Việt Nam as a producer of high-quality goods and services, boost foreign trade and enhance national competitiveness while calling for concerted efforts from ministries and business community in developing national brands in Việt Nam. — VNS