An Thoi Port in Phu Quoc Island (Photo: VNA) With a totalcoastline of over 3,260km spanning across 28 provinces and cities, over 1million square kilometers of exclusive economic zone and more than 3,000islands and islets, including Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly)archipelagos, Vietnam’s potentials for sea-based economy are abundant.
The major targetof the Vietnam maritime strategy to 2020 is to turn Vietnam into a country thathas sea-driven strength and wealth. To this end, it is crucial to build aneffective and sustainable maritime economy in line with the development of astrong sea and island trademark of Vietnam.
According tostatistics from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, more than3,000 islands and islets of Vietnam has a total land area of 1,700 square kilometers.
Three islands havingan area of more than 100 square kilometers are Phu Quoc in the southernprovince of Kien Giang, Cai Bau in the northern province of Quang Ninh and CatBa in the northern province of Hai Phong. There are 23 islands with more than10 square kilometers in area, 82 others with area of over 1 square kilometersand more than 1,400 unnamed islets with high potential in tourism and economic development.
However, expertsheld that only a small number of islands have developed their own trademarksfor their tourism and other products.
Many localitiesare still lacking suitable and comprehensive measures to make a master plan forthe exploitation of their sea and island potential. They have underestimated potentialof sea resources and environment. The building of maritime trademark has justbegun.
The trademark of amaritime country is a collection of sea trademarks, which are not only markedwith economic and business features but also with other areas, including namesof place, recognised trademarks, and characteristics of culture, history, and prominentfigures. It could easily leave strong impression and win customers’ interest.
Trademarks formaritime products are those developed for products and names attaching to theareas of navigation, seafood, tourism, natural resources, sea industries and maritimereserve areas.
The commercial productsand names must be famous and become trademarks. A great number of businessesand localities with their strong maritime trademarks will help Vietnam become famousfor its prestigious and high quality products.
In recent years, domesticand foreign consumers have become familiar to products with origin fromVietnam’s sea and islands, including Phu Quoc fish sauce, Ly Son garlic and NhaTrang bird’s nets, which have contributed to the growth of Vietnam’s sea andisland trade mark.
Huynh Quang Hung,Vice Chairman of the People’s Committee of Phu Quoc district, said the localityhas developed a pepper farm to the GlobalGAP standards that would help buildthe island into a centre for ecotourism, resorts and high-end entertainment nationallyand internationally.
The farm isexpected to serve as an attractive site for tourists, contributing to expandingthe “Phu Quoc Peppercorn” trademark which was recognised by the Department ofIntelligence Property in 2011.
Along withpeppercorn, Phu Quoc fish sauce and mother-of-pearl are also among trademarksthat are being developed by Phu Quoc, said Hung.
Meanwhile, Ly Sonisland of the central province of Quang Ngai, which is also known as the“Kingdom of Garlic,” is focusing on growing trademark for its garlic.
Garlic brings anincome of 1.5-2 billion VND per hectare for islanders each year. The peakseason for garlic harvest is in April and May when tourists flock to the islandto experience garlic harvesting.
At the same time,the south central province of Khanh Hoa has also worked to promote its owntrademark for Nha Trang birds’ net, and the northern coastal city of Hai Phonghas been advertising its Cat Hai fish sauce and Cat Ba’s forest bee honey.
According to Vu SyTuan, deputy head of the Sea and Island Department under the Ministry ofNatural Resources and Environment, the building of trademark for maritime productsrequires joint efforts of central and local levels.
He stressed theneed for specific, proper and synchronic policies as well as strong enough resources.
Tuan also highlightedthe necessity of close coordination and high consensus among ministries,sectors, localities and businesses to improve the exploitation of sea resources./.
VNA
