More than 6,800 domestic enterprises were helped to participate in trade promotion activities through the national trade promotion programme in 2013.

The news was announced at a conference held by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) in Hanoi on January 16, which reviewed the programme’s operations during the year.

According to representatives from the Department of Trade Promotion (DTP) under the ministry, over 280,000 commercial transactions were implemented in 2013, with the total value of signed deals and memorandums of understanding reaching over 1.4 billion USD and 7.7 million USD respectively.

In addition, the fair activities hosted by the programme attracted more than 1.8 million visitors with sales revenue exceeding 380 billion VND (17.86 million USD). The programme provided remarkable assistance to trade associations, helping enterprises expand their market in the country and abroad.

Last year, the State distributed 70 billion VND (almost 3.3 million USD) to the programme to implement support activities for domestic enterprises, said the DTP.

Its management board has asked the MoIT to approve the first period of the 2014 national trade promotion programme, which will include 117 projects at a cost of 30 billion VND (1.41 million).-VNA