Many Things to Do for Hanoi's Trade Promotion

Over the past few years, Hanoi has boosted its trade promotion activities, making a contribution to promoting exports and developing local markets. Trade promotion activities have become a bridge linking production with business activities, production with markets and helping enterprises mobilise more capital and other resources for their production and business activities.

As a result, the total value of goods circulation in the city was put at VND 116,149 billion, up by 24.2 per cent. Total retail sale of goods and services reached VND 43,771 billion, up by 21.9 per cent over 2004. The consumer price index increased by 7.5 per cent against 2004. The city’s export turnover reached US$2.860 billion, up by 23.8 per cent against 2004.

 

However, according to Nguyen The Quang, vice chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee, Hanoi’s trade promotion results remain modest. Hanoi now has over 1,000 offices of foreign trade companies, but local enterprises have not taken fully the advantage for trade promotion and partner seeking activities. Over the past five years, the city has provided enterprises support, valued at billions of Vietnam dong, to attend domestic and international fairs and exhibitions but the results were not high enough.

 

According to reports of the Hanoi Department of Trade, the building and upgrading, and the conversion of the management model of markets are very slow. Also, the city’s trade centres and systems of convenient supermarkets are under-developed. Furthermore, there are shortcomings in State management of market, supermarket and trade centres.

Weaknesses in import and export activities are still seen with high trade deficits, especially in the ASEAN and Chinese markets. The city’s export structure has been outdated with raw and outsourced products, including footwear, textiles and garments, and assembled products, accounting for 60 per cent.

 

Quang said that Hanoi was a major economic and political centre in Vietnam, so many foreign enterprises and firms had sought opportunities in the city. Hanoi’s enterprises should take the opportunity to seek partners. Hanoi should develop a comprehensive trade promotion plan, cementing major issues and assigning responsibility to each agency, having policies on rewarding and penalising, thus encouraging trade promotion cadres.