Illustrative image (Source: VNA) Tra Vinh (VNA) – The management board of the small- and medium-sized enterprise development project in the Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh (SME Tra Vinh) has revealed that it will spend 70 billion VND (3 million USD) to support provincial SMEs in 2019, including over 65 billion VND from the Canadian government in non-refundable aid.
To Ngoc Binh, the project director, said that of the investment, more than 10 billion VND will be used to support startup activities, while over 23 billion VND will be spent to assist the building of trademarks for major products, promote production connectivity, and expand markets.
Additionally, nearly 22 billion VND will be invested in activities to improve the business environment and enhance provincial competitiveness. The rest will be poured into communications and project management, said Binh.
In 2018, the SME Tra Vinh project disbursed nearly 28 billion VND on activities supporting businesses, including developing SMEs in the 2018-2020 period in association with activities related to gender, ethnic minorities and the environment; expanding markets and communications for coconut products; facilitating startups; and the building, monitoring and evaluating of plans to develop SMEs.
Through the activities, local SMEs have enhanced their management capacity and strengthened their connectivity with partners to expand their markets, while receiving support to realise ideas on developing key products of the province.
Currently, Tra Vinh has about 2,200 businesses operating with a total investment of over 25,600 billion VND and a combined workforce of nearly 90,000 hands.
To support the growth of firms, Global Affair Canada has funded the SME Tra Vinh project in the 2014-2020 period with a total investment of 12.1 million CAD (8.17 million USD).
The objectives of the project include assisting the growth and improving the competitiveness of SMEs in the province, benefiting about 200 enterprises and more than 194,000 locals in 22 rural areas. –VNA
VNA
