The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) has approved 199 projects for the National Trade Promotion Programme in 2017, which will be implemented with VND90 billion (US$3.96 million) sourced from the State budget.

Deputy head of the MoIT’s Trade Promotion Agency (Vietrade) Ta Hoang Linh delivered these figures during a conference in Ha Noi yesterday that reviewed the 2016 programme.

This year’s programme aims to expand export markets, targeting several markets in the EU such as France, Germany, Belgium and Italy, those participating in the Trans-Pacific Partnership including Australia, South Korea, Japan and New Zealand along with member countries of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) like Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar.

It will also focus on the domestic market, including establishing distribution channels in rural, mountainous and border areas, as part of efforts to push the campaign "Vietnamese should prioritise the use of Vietnamese goods," Linh said.

According to Vietrade’s statistics, 6,000 domestic enterprises received help to participate in trade promotion activities at home and abroad through the programme in 2016.

Trade fairs held under the scheme attracted more than two million visitors, with the total value of signed deals, memorandums of understanding and sales revenue reaching above $393 million.

Linh said the programme supported the domestic firms effectively in not only exploiting traditional export markets but also seeking new potential outlets.

Despite these encouraging achievements, the programme still encountered several obstacles. One of them was that many enterprises participated in its trade fairs with the main purpose of selling their products rather than studying customers’ tastes and advertising their trademarks.

In his speech at the event, Deputy Ministry of Industry and Trade Tran Quoc Khanh said his ministry would support local businesses in registering geographical indications for their products while connecting the firms to Vietnamese trade offices in overseas countries in order to help them advertise their trademarks. — VNS