HANOI: Inter-regional links in trade promotion still face many difficulties and need more focus, according to Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy, deputy director of the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency’s Export Support Centre.

Thuy was speaking at a seminar in Hanoi on Monday organised by The Cong Thuong (Industry and Trade) magazine about effectively utilising regional links in trade promotion.

Since early 2024, the Trade Promotion Department under the Industry and Trade Ministry (MoIT) has been working with provincial and municipal authorities to co-host trade promotions and import-export development conferences in major economic regions.

Through the programmes, MoIT is working closely with local areas to conduct major trade promotions focused on key export sectors and markets. The new approach in 2024 aims to make trade promotion more targeted and effective in the future.

Thuy said that isolated trade promotion efforts are less effective compared with those that are collaborative and large-scale. As such, MoIT had included a series of regional trade promotion conferences in its agenda since late last year, covering all six economic regions.

The ministry has already conducted five of these conferences, with one more planned in Can Tho to focus on trade promotion and export-import development for the Mekong Delta region.

“These conferences have shown that local participation and combined resources and efforts have generated many new ideas for enhancing future trade promotion activities,” Thuy said.

Dinh Lam Sang, deputy director of Bac Kan’s Department of Industry and Trade, highlighted that regional trade links have been effective in six northern provinces. Bac Kan’s trade promotion facilitated valuable connections for businesses with “one country one priority” (OCOP) products.

He emphasised that showcasing OCOP products across provinces, where products from Bac Kan are available elsewhere and vice versa, enhances trade and meets regional needs.

The approach supports provincial directives for regional integration and inter-regional trade.

 - ANN