A conference on designating ways to improve the competitive competence of enterprises in the Mekong Delta region was convened in the southern city of Can Tho on April 2 by the Can Tho chapter of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI).

Director of VCCI- Can Tho Vo Hung Dung said the VCCI-Can Tho has implemented supporting programmes for enterprises in manpower training and improving communication in trade relations and foreign investment in a bid to boost local economic development.

The VCCI-Can Tho has helped enterprises to operate effectively by cutting costs and improving quality in accordance with international standards, particularly as Vietnam enters a number of agreements such as the Tran-Pacific Partnership (TPP) by end of 2015 of early 2016, he added.

General Secretary of the Mekong Delta Business Association Nguyen Thi Thuong Linh noted that local enterprises should keep them updated with latest polices and trade agreements that Vietnam signed with foreign organisations and countries.

Additionally, enterprises should intensify the added valued for their products create partnerships, and focus on expanding new market and new product development.

Moreover, Linh requested regional authorised bodies to improve the business climate in terms of administrative reform.

According to the VCCI-Can Tho, over 51,000 Mekong enterprises lack information on trade related policies and laws, international markets, competitive partners and ways to access credits. Unstable raw material sources and rising prices have hindered business development of local enterpriese.

Such reasons caused 1,932 enterprises in the region to dissolve or stay idle in 2014, a 19,8 percent increase from 2013.-VNA