Cross-border e-commerce has changed the way firms are doing business, with micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs) given more equal opportunities to access global market, said Vu Tien Loc, Chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI).
E-commerce gives MSMEs equal opportunities to access global market hinh anh 1Thanh Ha "thieu" lychee from the northern province of Hai Duong is available at stores in France
As the unprecedented COVID-19 crisis has forced many countries around the world to close borders and restrict travels, thousands of in-person business meetings, conferences and trade exhibitions between Vietnam and its major trade partners, such as China, the Republic of Korea, the EU and US, have been cancelled and delayed.
To tackle such challenges, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) has cooperated with other ministries, local administrations and overseas trade offices to make use of digital platforms to promote trade and boost exports, according to Deputy Minister Do Thang Hai.
More than 1 million online trading sessions have been organized and hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese companies have engaged in virtual trade promotion events with potential partners from 55 countries and territories, including many new markets in Africa, Hai said.
Through these events, growers of seasonal farm produce in Bac Giang, Hung Yen, Son La, Ca Mau, Dak Lak, Soc Trang and others have also received support to trade their products on multiple popular online marketplaces like Sendo, Shopee, and Voso.vn. It has not only helped farmers seek buyers but also attracted more investment into agricultural production and processing.
Thanks to such efforts, Vietnamese agricultural products have gained access to more major markets, said To Hoai Nam, Standing Vice Chairman and General-Secretary of the Vietnam Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (VINASME).
“Thieu” lychee had cracked open the door to France, Japan and the Netherlands while Hung Yen’s longan had found its way to the EU, he cited, adding that plum and dragon fruits are getting similar support to go global.
Since early 2021, a number of both in-person and virtual conferences to boost sales of “thieu” lychee have been held, connecting growers with domestic and foreign traders, said Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien. These have proved effective as the lychee has expanded its foothold in demanding markets such as Japan and the EU. Exports of the fruit reached over 89,000 tonnes this year, accounting for 41.4 percent of total sales.
The MoIT is making all necessary legal steps to export more Vietnamese agricultural specialties via cross-border e-commerce, with a hope that farmers can directly supply their products to foreign end-users, Dien revealed.
Vu Ba Phu, Director of the MoIT’s Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (Vietrade), said his agency is developing a trade promotion ecosystem mobile app to help Vietnamese firms improve the effectiveness of their promotion activities.
It will also pilot a project providing support for Vietnamese producers to remotely join foreign trade expos and work with renowned global e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Alibaba and Global Sources to help the firms cut export promotional costs and introduce their products to global importers and customers, Phu noted./.
VNA
