Nguyen Quan (First left), Minster of Science and Technology, grants the Vietnamese High Quality Goods award 2015 to businesses. — Photo dddn.vn

HCM CITY (Biz Hub) — The Vietnamese High-Quality Goods award will be conferred on 500 firms this year, 41 of them first-time winners. Forty-two have received annual recognition for 20 consecutive years.

At a ceremony in HCM City today , the awardees will also include 356 firms who have won for three consecutive years.

The winners were selected from a list of 678 companies based on surveys of nearly 20,000 households, individuals and retailers at trade promotion programmes in 12 key provinces and cities around the country, held by the Business Association of High Quality Vietnamese Products.

They had to meet criteria related to product quality and origin, and comply with regulations on consumers and workers' rights, environmental protection and corporate social responsibility.

Most of the winners make sauces, spices, confectionery, non-alcoholic beverages, construction materials, electrical and household machines and dried foodstuff and instant food, said Nguyen Thanh Long, the association's deputy chairman.

Hoang Trong, an association expert, said Vietnamese high-quality products had increasingly gained trust of supermarket chains in the domestic market as well as regional and world markets.

Vu Kim Hanh, the association's chairwoman, said this year would continue to be a challenging year for Vietnamese firms in international integration and innovation.

"Enterprises must know their own advantages and focus on this," she said.

She also called on domestic firms to quickly develop a strong foothold in the lucrative rural market.

Luong Van Vinh, general director of My Hao Chemical Cosmetics Joint Stock Company, said integration would mean both opportunity and challenges for Vietnamese firms.

Thailand has opened trade fairs to promote their products in big cities like Ha Noi and HCM City as well as the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta.

"To compete with foreign products, besides providing quality products at good prices, developing a strong distribution system is very important," he said.

Hanh said the association would strengthen activities to help businesses promote their products both in domestic and neighbouring markets and improve their competitiveness in the international market.

The awards ceremony, to be held at the White Palace Convention Centre in Phu Nhuan District, will mark the 20th anniversary of the association. — VNS