OCOP Vietnam in Transformation: From Local Products to a National Brand

On the evening of December 20, at the Thang Long Imperial Citadel (Hanoi), the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, in coordination with the Hanoi People’s Committee, solemnly opened the Vietnam OCOP Festival 2025 under the theme “Vietnam – Convergence and Dissemination.” The event marked a major highlight in a series of activities promoting the development of the One Commune One Product (OCOP) Program, while reaffirming OCOP’s role in the strategy for sustainable agricultural and rural development closely linked with culture and the market.

The opening of the Vietnam OCOP Festival 2025 

Beyond a showcase and introduction of products, the Vietnam OCOP Festival 2025 is expected to serve as a forum for spreading a new development mindset for the OCOP Program—shifting from quality standardization to brand building, from leveraging existing advantages to meeting market demand, and toward sustainable development and international integration.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Minister of Agriculture and Environment Tran Duc Thang emphasized that OCOP is not merely a commodity, but the crystallization of land, people, and Vietnamese culture across generations, “breath of the countryside” elevated by market-oriented thinking, innovation, and the aspiration to rise. According to the Minister, after more than seven years of implementation, the OCOP Program has proven to be a sound policy, contributing to quality standardization, brand building, and bringing familiar rural products of Vietnam to broader markets.

Minister of Agriculture and Environment Tran Duc Thang delivered the opening remarks at the event

Affirming the consistent spirit of the program, the Minister noted that OCOP does not alter the rural roots, but rather elevates inherent values, enabling farmers to achieve legitimate prosperity right on their own homeland. Emphasizing the theme “OCOP Vietnam – Convergence and Dissemination,” Minister Tran Duc Thang stated that this year’s Festival is not only a venue showcasing representative products from more than 18,000 OCOP items, but also a space where trust, aspirations, and the spirit of “doing real work – doing it conscientiously – seeing it through to the end” converge among nearly 10,000 enterprises, cooperatives, and production households nationwide.

At the opening ceremony, Minister Tran Duc Thang stressed: "With the theme OCOP Vietnam – Convergence and Dissemination, this Festival carries profound significance: it is a space that brings together the essence of OCOP products from regions across the country; a forum connecting OCOP stakeholders with distribution enterprises, investors, experts, and consumers; and a place to spread pride in culture, indigenous knowledge, and the aspiration for legitimate prosperity among rural people. The Festival not only honors outstanding products, but also sends a strong message: OCOP Vietnam is shifting from ‘making products’ to ‘building brands,’ from ‘selling what we have’ to ‘selling what the market needs,’ and from ‘extensive growth’ to ‘in-depth and sustainable development,’” the Minister emphasized.

Along with this, the Minister reaffirmed the State’s accompanying role in the new phase: the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment will continue to improve policies, remove bottlenecks, and create the most favorable environment for OCOP stakeholders to develop, with a clear standpoint that the State does not replace enterprises and producers, but works alongside them and follows through to the end.

Nguyen Manh Quyen, Vice Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee, said that this Festival plays an important role in advancing target programs and shaping the vision for the next phase

From a local perspective, Nguyen Manh Quyen, Vice Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee, stated that in the development journey of the OCOP Program, Hanoi has affirmed its position as the “leading pioneer” and the most successful locality, with 3,463 products recognized at three stars or higher. This achievement helps the capital maintain its role as a center of excellence convergence and a strategic hub for connecting OCOP products to international markets.

Nguyen Manh Quyen affirmed: "In the coming period, we clearly identify that the Capital’s OCOP Program will continue to focus on green transition and digital transformation associated with sustainable development strategies. OCOP will serve as the nucleus for reshaping Hanoi’s agricultural and rural development strategy, improving product quality, and promoting cultural industries and tourism. This Festival plays an important role in advancing target programs and shaping visions for the next phase, opening up new development directions and ensuring that each product becomes a cultural ambassador,” Nguyen Manh Quyen emphasized.

Delegates performed the opening ceremony of the Vietnam OCOP Festival 2025

Providing additional information on the program’s effectiveness, Nguyen Truong Son, Chief of the Central Office for New Rural Development Coordination, said that to date, 60.7% of OCOP entities with products rated three stars or higher have recorded an average annual revenue growth of 17.6%, forming a multi-value rural economic ecosystem. Many OCOP products have been exported to more than 60 countries, contributing to affirming the position of Vietnamese agricultural products in international markets.

At the opening ceremony, the Organizing Committee honored and commended 22 outstanding national OCOP entities, including five entities with at least two nationally recognized OCOP products; 15 entities with at least three nationally recognized OCOP products; and two pioneering entities recognized with national OCOP products in rural tourism.

Delegates visit booths showcasing OCOP products

The Vietnam OCOP Festival 2025 takes place from December 20 to 23, 2025, featuring a wide range of activities. A special highlight is the introduction of an oil painting over 300 meters long, themed “Vietnam – The Country and Its People,” depicting rural achievements through fine arts. The work has been recognized as a national record for the longest three-region landscape painting in Vietnam, spreading the spirit of new rural development and OCOP. In addition, the “Vietnam OCOP Livestream Day” on the TikTok Shop platform, along with cultural and artistic performances, exchanges among domestic and international artisans, and a three-region culinary gala, all contribute to creating a space of convergence and dissemination in line with the Festival’s spirit.

Scenes from the event

Source: Vietnam Business Forum