The Tra Vinh provincial People's Committee and the Canadian Embassy in Vietnam awarded certificates of merit to collectives and individuals for their contributions to the project implementation. (Photo: VNA) Tra Vinh (VNA) – The People'sCommittee of the Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh and the Canadian Embassy inVietnam on November 23 summarised a Canada-funded project to support local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and celebrated 22 years of bilateral cooperation.
Chairman of the Tra Vinhprovincial People's Committee Le Van Han thanked the Canadian Government forits programmes and projects to support the province's development.
In 2014, Global Affairs Canada (GAC) - a department of the Canadian Government that manages Canada's diplomatic andconsular relations, promotes Canadian international trade, and leads Canada'sinternational development and humanitarian assistance - sponsored the SME Project in the context of that local SMEs were facingdifficulties and challenges in accessing markets, land, finance and businessdevelopment services while local infrastructure did not receive has sufficientinvestment.
The project has a total investment of 12.1million CAD (8.83 million USD), including 11 million CAD from the CanadianGovernment’s grant and the remainder from the province’s counterpart capital.
Han said that over thepast nine years, activities under the project have helped local SMEs to developand enhance their competitiveness, expand trade opportunities, and contributeto the province's sustainable socio-economic development.
Tra Vinh province now has over 2,840 operating SMEs, doubling the number in 2015. Over 28% of the enterprises are owned by women and 6.8% areowned by Khmer ethnic minority people.
In addition, the project also carried outactivities to promote innovation in SMEs, improve small-scale infrastructure works in 18 communes/towns across the province, and contribute to the improvement ofthe province's investment environment and provincial green index (PGI).
As of October 2023, nearly 30,000 local peoplebenefited from the project, 33% of whom are women and 20.2% are people fromethnic minority groups. In the 2015 – 2023 period, the private enterprise sector inTra Vinh province has created jobs for over 112,400 workers, 59% of whom arefemale, and 31% are Khmer ethnic workers.
Congratulating Tra Vinh for completing itscommitments to sponsors, Canadian Ambassador to Vietnam Shawn Steil said thatin the last 22 years, Tra Vinh has always been an important partner of Canada,and the relationship between the two sides has consistently maintained and moreand more comprehensive.
The SME Project’s results will lay a solidfoundation for Canada and Tra Vinh to continue cooperating and opening up new opportunities for trade exchange.
On this occasion, the Tra Vinh provincial People'sCommittee and the Canadian Embassy in Vietnam awarded certificates of merit tocollectives and individuals for their contributions to the projectimplementation./.
