International compliance key for crafts

Hanoi (VNA) - International standard compliance played an important role for enterprises in general and handicraft enterprises in particular in the context of integration, an official said at an exporters association meeting on January 7.

Le Ba Ngoc, Deputy Chairman of the Vietnam Handicraft Exporters Association (Vietcraft) said the meeting discussed standard compliance for Vietnamese handicraft sector, aiming to direct enterprises to enhance products' quality as well as production scale to meet international standards.

According to a survey participated in by 100 international importers, most of them confirmed they would work with suppliers complying with standard regulations on quality, society, environment and security in the next five years.

Of these, 100 percent of the importers said that in the next five years at least 30 percent of their suppliers have to meet the standards compliance.

Meanwhile, 75 percent of them required at least 50 percent of suppliers to meet the standards.

Therefore, this was a strategic change which Vietnamese handicraft exporters needed to satisfy to maintain and enhance their competitive position in the international market, he emphasised.

The meeting is part of a project to support enterprises to operate effectively for the country's dynamic and sustainable development.

After a year of implementing the project, the association has conducted many activities to evaluate the standard compliance needs of Vietnamese firms, as well as of international importers to build guiding materials for businesses.

The association also organised training and consulting programmes to raise awareness and support the implementation of standard compliance at businesses.

The project also supports Vietcraft to build sector standards for three groups of bamboo and rattan, ceramics and lacquer.

About 350 enterprises have known about the standards while 25 enterprises were instructed to apply these standards to meet requirements of importers.

Currently, the project is continued to ensure development of new designs conforming to the standards and connecting Vietnamese firms with international clients before proposing appropriate policies suitable with sector standards.

Michael R Digregorio, the representative of the Asia Foundation in Vietnam, said the project was a three-year programme managed by the foundation and funded by the Australian Government.

The programme supporting Vietcraft was a part of the project because handicraft played an important role in generating jobs and income for the poor in rural and mountainous area, he added.-VNA