President Truong Tan Sang has asked the garment and textile sector to focus on improving the capacity of designers and workers in order to increase the quality of products.

The President made the call at a March 24 meeting with representatives from 50 of the country’s 60,000 garment enterprises, who are attending an award ceremony honouring outstanding businesses in this sector held by the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association in Hanoi.

He spoke highly of the sector’s efforts to contribute to the country’s economic growth, export turnover and job generation.

Vietnam is trying its best to expand its market and negotiate the signing of a Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, he said, noting that the garment sector should carefully study policy mechanisms and seek competitive advantages in order to anticipate these opportunities.

The State leader expressed his belief that with its development momentum, the garment sector will lift its export turnover to 25 billion USD in the near future.

In 2013, the sector earned more than 20 billion USD from exports, a year-on-year rise of 18.5 percent. It has created jobs for 5 million direct workers and 2.7 million indirect labourers, including a number living in remote areas.-VNA