Vietnam to Promote Border Trade

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Aug. 13 – The Vietnamese government plans on spending VND16 billion to push border trade promotion programs, says the deputy director of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Mountainous Area Trade Department.

The agency will be responsible for managing the campaign and allotting the funds. “This is the first time money has been poured in trade promotion in border areas, so we have carefully scrutinized the programs,” said Nguyen Van Hoi adding that the money would be divided among six trade promotion programs.

Of the money, an estimated VND4.5 billion will be set aside just for improving agricultural exports at the China border gates located in northern Lang Son and Lao Cai Province. Moreover, VND3 billion will be used to develop capacity building for agricultural export businesses dealing with Chinese trade by making training courses on law, certification of origin, payment, contracts and technology available.

“It is mostly small-and medium-sized Vietnamese enterprises involved in distribution and sales in border areas. They aren’t in a position to undertake market research or promote their products. They haven’t benefited from previous trade promotion programs,” said Hoi.

Another VND2 billion will be allotted for improving Vietnam’s capacity for logistics in trade with China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. “We spent VND6 billion on distributing Vietnamese products to Cambodian and Vietnamese living in remote areas through about 20 retail outlets and events. Each event has cost about VND300 million,” Hoi said.

Vietnamese goods are at a disadvantage when it comes to border trading because of its underdeveloped infrastructure and expensive transportation costs.

The rest of the funds allotted for the program will be used to pay for supervision.

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