A press conference on the fair for agricultural and OCOP in the North was held in Ha Noi on Thursday. — VNA/VNS Photo Bich Hong

A fair for agricultural and OCOP products in the North will take place in Lao Cai Province from October 22-26, the fair's organisers said at a press conference in Ha Noi on Thursday.

The fair is organised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in coordination with Lao Cai Provincial People's Committee and will include the participation of 318 booths showing achievements of Viet Nam's sustainable, comprehensive and modern agricultural development and the One Commune – One Product (OCOP) Programme.

Director of the Trade Promotion Centre for Agriculture (Agritrade) Dao Van Ho said this is a trade promotion activity to promote the brands of OCOP products as well as high quality agricultural, forestry and aquatic products of the Northern localities.

The fair also creates opportunities for those provinces and cities to show their potential and advantages in the agriculture and rural tourism fields, and also for businesses and cooperatives in the North to meet traders and processors of agricultural, forestry and aquatic products in other regions of Viet Nam.

Enterprises and research institutes will show their achievements from applying scientific and technological advances for seed production, processing, preservation, packaging, and traceability of agricultural products and advanced agricultural production models.

This fair also witnesses the participation of the representatives of Chinese businesses in Viet Nam, said Le Tan Phong, deputy director of the Lao Cai Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. The representatives are expected to promote agricultural trade between the two countries.

This fair will also include many other activities, including a forum on OCOP production and consumption and visits to typical OCOP production models in Lao Cai Province.

At the press conference, Phong from the Lao Cai Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said the OCOP programme has contributed significantly to improving the quality of Lao Cai’s agricultural products.

At present, Lao Cai has 51 products with OCOP certificates. The province expects to have 20 other products receiving OCOP certification this year.

On the basis of OCOP, the province will invest in the development of large-scale regions to produce OCOP goods with high quality meeting export standards and promote the development of agro product processing. At the same time, it builds brands for those products and has trade promotion programmes for them to increase exports.

Lao Cai has exported OCOP products to many markets such as EU and China. Those products included tea, bananas, pineapples and chili sauce. — VNS