A wood processing line for exports to Russia at Hiep Long Company. More trade fairs and exhibitions will be held in the city this year to promote Vietnamese goods in the world market. — VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Vu

HCM CITY (Biz Hub)— In its trade promotion activities for this year, the Investment and Trade Promotion Centre of HCM City will focus on key markets of Russia, Hong Kong, Cambodia, Myanmar, Indonesia and Laos via trade fairs and exhibitions to promote Vietnamese goods and overseas business trips.

Pho Nam Phuong, ITPC's director, made the statement at a review meeting organised in HCM City on Thursday, adding that the move aims to support Vietnamese firms to expand market share and promote their brands on the world market.

"Being the first southeast Asia country signing a free trade agreement with the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, Viet Nam has advantages in penetrating the Russian market," she said.

The centre would provide domestic exporters with updated information of these markets to enable the latter to map out appropriate export strategies and organise programmes to connect domestic exporters with potential business partners, she said.

In addition, ITPC would organise trade fairs and exhibitions in target markets to help promote made-in-Viet Nam goods, and business trips would be organised this year to support domestic exporters to study overseas markets and seek business partners.

Speaking about investment promotion, Phuong said ITPC would focus on attracting foreign investment in sectors such as hi-tech industry, support industry, hi-tech agriculture and others.

The centre would co-operate with the Viet Nam Embassy in Japan, the Japanese Business Association of HCM City, the Japan External Trade Organisation and other organisations to organise a forum on attracting Japanese investment in the electronic sector, agricultural machines and agricultural and seafood processing, she said.

Addressing the meeting, Nguyen Thi Hong, deputy chairwoman of the HCM City People's Committee, hailed the efforts made by the centre last year.

She urged the centre to make more efforts to raise the efficiency of its investment and trade promotion activities.

Besides focusing on promoting Vietnamese goods in overseas markets, she said ITPC should pay more attention to supporting local producers and their products in the lucrative domestic market.

Last year, trade and investment promotion activities greatly contributed to increase the city's production and exports, with its export revenue topping US$32 billion, up 8.8 per cent over the preceding year.

The city attracted $3.2 billion in foreign investment last year, a year-on-year increase of 91.6 per cent, ranking second in the country in terms of foreign investment attraction. — VNS