A conference to discuss measures to stablise price of essential goods ahead the upcoming Lunar New Year (Tet) festival was held in Ho Chi Minh City on January 14.

The event was organised by the municipal Department of Industry and Trade (DIT) in conjunction with the Association of Businesses in industrial parks (IPs) and export processing zones (EPZs) and the Department of Health.

Representatives from the DIT introduced participants to plans to encourage enterprises, producers and credit organisations to join price stabilisation programmes in the coming time.

Officials from IPs and EPZs also proposed measures to enhance the effectiveness of the programmes. They suggested that the DIT diversify commodities in outlets selling goods at stabilised prices and called for stricter management of the quality of these goods.

Meanwhile, the city’s Worker Support Fund asked the municipal Department of Health to invite domestic pharmaceutical enterprises to take part in stabilisation programmes of medicine prices in the parks and zones.

In 2013, the city’s price stabilisation programme did not use money from the State budget . It called on enterprises to participate optionally, while providing the companies with incentives regarding advertisement and distribution networks.

The programme has drawn the participation of 64 businesses.

Ho Chi Minh City has also implemented the campaign “Vietnamese people use Vietnamese goods”, contributing to increasing the proportion of Vietnamese goods in large supermarkets to 80-90 percent.

The city plans to organise various activities to encourage citizens to use local products.-VNA