Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai

According to the Viet Nam National Brand (Vietnam Value) Programme for 2020-30, the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Trade Promotion Agency will set up plans to build an image of Viet Nam as a prestigious country with high-quality goods and services. It will also take measures to prevent any activities from having a negative impact on the national brand.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai speaks to local media about these issues.

What are the specific targets of this programme from 2020-30 to promote the development of the national brand?

The development of Viet Nam's national brand is a long-term programme through promoting individual product brands.

Last year, the Prime Minister issued regulations on building and managing the national brand, and implementing the Viet Nam National Brand Programme. The PM also approved plans for this programme for 2020-30.

The programme aims to build an image of Viet Nam as a prestigious country with high-quality goods and services, thus increasing the attractiveness of the country, promoting the development of foreign trade and improving national competitiveness.

To reach these targets, these plans must be implemented efficiently. The implementation must also match the country’s import-export strategy, targeting to lift the export turnover of national brands to higher than the average export value.

During that period, the programme expects to promote images of over 1,000 products as national brands. It also targets a 10 per cent rise in the number of the most valuable brands listed by the world’s major ratings agencies.

Meanwhile, 90 per cent of enterprises nationwide will be made aware of a brand’s importance to their production, business and investment activities.

All products that obtain national brand recognition will be promoted in the domestic and key export markets.

According to global rating agencies, this programme has contributed to increasing the value of Viet Nam's national brand by 20 per cent annually on average.

What is the ministry doing to hit these targets from 2020-30?

To achieve these goals, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has been assigned to manage the programme and will coordinate with other ministries, sectors, localities and relevant organisations to help local businesses to develop products according to Viet Nam's national brand criteria. We will support businesses in building, developing and protecting their brands.

At the same time, we will also promote communications activities for this programme at home and abroad according to the regulations on building, managing and implementing the Viet Nam National Brand Programme.

We will raise awareness among local enterprises about the role of brands in production, business and investment. The programme will also help enterprises improve their ability to build, develop and protect brands.

Meanwhile, other ministries and sectors will collect proposals on the development and protection of brands from localities, organisations and enterprises and will then coordinate with the MoIT to implement the programme.

The building, protection and promotion of a national brand will be a joint effort by all ministries and sectors.

New national brands will be selected every two years according to strict regulations to ensure fairness and transparency.

Enterprises that are awarded a national brand will be allowed to use Vietnam Value, the national brand logo, and the national brand identity system.

The ministry will coordinate with relevant agencies to manage and inspect the use of the national brand to prevent activities that have a bad impact on the prestige and image of the national brand at home and abroad.

The ministry believes that renovations to the national brand programme will create sustainable development for the programme and improve brand value on the global market.

During the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, what has the ministry done to help businesses to build and promote brands in domestic and foreign markets under the national brand programme?

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit many countries and territories, having negative impacts on the global economy, including Viet Nam.

Many local businesses lack input materials for production and are unable to find consumers for their products, forcing them to cut production, especially the textile, garment, footwear, agricultural, tourism and retail sectors.

Of which, demand for some farming and food products has reduced due to the pandemic in key export markets such as China, South Korea, and some European and American countries. Besides that, some countries have applied strict measures to restrict the transport of goods. Therefore, Viet Nam's export activities have faced many obstacles.

In this situation, ministries and localities have formed specific programmes to support local enterprises, but they also need to find solutions to overcome these difficulties.

During the pandemic, the ministry has directed Viet Nam’s trade officials overseas to organise events and promote Vietnamese products in foreign markets.

The ministry has offered indirect supports and online consultancy services for local businesses to improve product design and brand development.

It has also cooperated with localities to build trade promotion programmes for products with geographical indicators, collective trademarks and national brands on the global market via e-commerce platforms and trade promotion and diplomatic events overseas.

On the other hand, the ministry has cooperated with foreign trade promotion organisations to carry out market research and find new export markets for products with competitive advantages.

It has strengthened activities connecting local businesses with major distributors in the domestic market to boost local consumption.

These solutions will create favourable conditions for local businesses to resume production quickly and meet the higher demand for goods after the pandemic ends.

Meanwhile, enterprises need to reorganise production and restructure their markets. Enterprises also need to diversify their sources of input materials and increase the added value of their products.

They should hold trade promotions to help Vietnamese goods enter distribution chains, such as large supermarkets.

The State has encouraged enterprises to improve the quality of product preservation and processing to meet market demand. — VNS