The Ministry of Science and Technology handed over national and Asia Pacific quality awards 2011 to 98 Vietnamese enterprises at a ceremony in Hanoi on Feb. 26.

Prominent among national quality awardees were the Thien Long group, the Trung Nguyen Coffee Joint Stock Company, the Tien Phong Plastic Joint Stock Company, the Chemical Co. Ltd 21 and the Pomina Steel Joint Stock Company.

Meanwhile, the Minh Long Co. Ltd. and the Robot Investment Joint Stock Company won the 2011 Global Performance Excellence Awards (GPEA) from the Asia Pacific Quality Organisation.

Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan and Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan attended the ceremony.

Speaking at the event, Nhan said the awards gave participating enterprises opportunities to promote their products and raise competitive capacity in the period of international integration.

The Vietnamese annual quality awards are based on the US’s Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Awards, which judge winners on seven areas – leadership; strategic planning; customer and market focus; knowledge management; human resource management; process management, and results.

Beginning from 1996, so far 1,399 enterprises have received the national awards and 26 others won the GPEA.-VNA