More than 200 overseas Vietnamese businesspeople gathered in thecapital on Oct. 13 to discuss methods to promote Made-in-Vietnam goodson the occasion of Vietnam Entrepreneur Day.
In theconference themed "Opportunities for cooperation, investment, trade andexport of Vietnamese goods", Nguyen Thanh Son, deputy minister ofForeign Affairs, who is also head of the State Committee for OverseasVietnamese Affairs (COVA), said: "Overseas Vietnamese communities nowlive in 103 countries and territories and most of them are concentratedin big markets like the US, the EU and Eastern Europe.
"However, the paradox is that most of the goods our communities aretrading and distributing are made in China , Thailand and Turkey."
He attributed the discrepancy to the fact thatVietnamese goods have difficulty penetrating certain markets and to theloose co-operation between domestic Vietnamese companies and thoseabroad.
Deputy Chairman of the Vietnam Association ofSmall and Medium Enterprises (VINASME) To Hoai Nam said domesticenterprises often hesitated to export goods to foreign markets due tofears of legal risks.
"When I asked them why, they[domestic enterprises] said if they failed to win a law suit, they wouldprobably lose capital that had taken them 20 years to accumulate.
"I also find that local companies often do not have a deepunderstanding of foreign consumer tastes and they miss opportunities dueto being over-cautious," he said.
"On the other hand,administrative procedures are described as one of the biggest obstaclesfacing Vietnamese enterprises in foreign countries when it comes toimporting and distributing Made-in-Vietnam products."
Although the Government had many favourable policies, the obstacles lied in policy implementation, he said.
The hesitation of overseas Vietnamese businesspeople also stemmed fromworries about risks such as poor domestic infrastructure and foodsafety, Nam added.
Nguyen Thanh My, permanent deputychairman of the Business Association of Overseas Vietnamese, saidoverseas Vietnamese often chose products from China , India andTurkey to sell because they were affordable and nicely designed.Meanwhile, some Vietnamese products, despite having locally recognisedbrand names, were still not enticing to foreign markets, especially theEU and the US .
Domestic companies had not put a lot ofinvestment into product design, marketing and promotion activities, orin extras such as after-sales services, he said.
Therefore, the two mains problems that needed to be addressed were product design and distribution strategies, he stressed.
My suggested that the State should co-operate with business communitiesabroad to set up wholesale or trade centres in foreign countries inorder to facilitate the penetration of Vietnamese goods and build on thestrength of overseas Vietnamese businesses.
Chairman ofthe Vietnamese businesses association in Hungary Pham Ngoc Chu said: "Wefind that European consumers prefer Vietnamese goods such as noodlesoups, canned fruits and green tea over Chinese options."
However, Vietnamese companies should pay more attention to productdesign and colour so that buyers could easily differentiate Vietnamesegoods from Chinese ones, he said.
"Chinese goods are oftenrecognised by their red packaging, but considering the currentsituation of climate change and temperature increase, we should useharmonious packaging with the soft colour of nature."
Chualso suggested Vietnamese firms should link hot news with production.He used the fortune teller octopus in Spain , which was admired byfootball fans throughout the world during the World Cup season lastyear, as an example.
He said Vietnamese companies couldhave sold thousands of T-shirts or other souvenirs if they had beendecorated with the octopus symbol.
During the conference,Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Thanh Bien called forVietnamese companies abroad to take full advantage of new policies, suchas nationality, house and land ownership, and investment preference, toenrich themselves in Vietnam and contribute to the country'ssocio-economic development.
They were asked to use theirknowledge of foreign cultures, business and management to act as abridge between Vietnamese goods and foreign markets and help domesticenterprises meet criteria to avoid lawsuits from foreign consumers.
The Ministry would continue streamlining administrative procedures andcreate favourable conditions for Vietnamese enterprises in the countryand abroad to develop their businesses and open export markets, Bienaffirmed. The conference was jointly held by the Ministry of ForeignAffairs and VINASME./.
In theconference themed "Opportunities for cooperation, investment, trade andexport of Vietnamese goods", Nguyen Thanh Son, deputy minister ofForeign Affairs, who is also head of the State Committee for OverseasVietnamese Affairs (COVA), said: "Overseas Vietnamese communities nowlive in 103 countries and territories and most of them are concentratedin big markets like the US, the EU and Eastern Europe.
"However, the paradox is that most of the goods our communities aretrading and distributing are made in China , Thailand and Turkey."
He attributed the discrepancy to the fact thatVietnamese goods have difficulty penetrating certain markets and to theloose co-operation between domestic Vietnamese companies and thoseabroad.
Deputy Chairman of the Vietnam Association ofSmall and Medium Enterprises (VINASME) To Hoai Nam said domesticenterprises often hesitated to export goods to foreign markets due tofears of legal risks.
"When I asked them why, they[domestic enterprises] said if they failed to win a law suit, they wouldprobably lose capital that had taken them 20 years to accumulate.
"I also find that local companies often do not have a deepunderstanding of foreign consumer tastes and they miss opportunities dueto being over-cautious," he said.
"On the other hand,administrative procedures are described as one of the biggest obstaclesfacing Vietnamese enterprises in foreign countries when it comes toimporting and distributing Made-in-Vietnam products."
Although the Government had many favourable policies, the obstacles lied in policy implementation, he said.
The hesitation of overseas Vietnamese businesspeople also stemmed fromworries about risks such as poor domestic infrastructure and foodsafety, Nam added.
Nguyen Thanh My, permanent deputychairman of the Business Association of Overseas Vietnamese, saidoverseas Vietnamese often chose products from China , India andTurkey to sell because they were affordable and nicely designed.Meanwhile, some Vietnamese products, despite having locally recognisedbrand names, were still not enticing to foreign markets, especially theEU and the US .
Domestic companies had not put a lot ofinvestment into product design, marketing and promotion activities, orin extras such as after-sales services, he said.
Therefore, the two mains problems that needed to be addressed were product design and distribution strategies, he stressed.
My suggested that the State should co-operate with business communitiesabroad to set up wholesale or trade centres in foreign countries inorder to facilitate the penetration of Vietnamese goods and build on thestrength of overseas Vietnamese businesses.
Chairman ofthe Vietnamese businesses association in Hungary Pham Ngoc Chu said: "Wefind that European consumers prefer Vietnamese goods such as noodlesoups, canned fruits and green tea over Chinese options."
However, Vietnamese companies should pay more attention to productdesign and colour so that buyers could easily differentiate Vietnamesegoods from Chinese ones, he said.
"Chinese goods are oftenrecognised by their red packaging, but considering the currentsituation of climate change and temperature increase, we should useharmonious packaging with the soft colour of nature."
Chualso suggested Vietnamese firms should link hot news with production.He used the fortune teller octopus in Spain , which was admired byfootball fans throughout the world during the World Cup season lastyear, as an example.
He said Vietnamese companies couldhave sold thousands of T-shirts or other souvenirs if they had beendecorated with the octopus symbol.
During the conference,Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Thanh Bien called forVietnamese companies abroad to take full advantage of new policies, suchas nationality, house and land ownership, and investment preference, toenrich themselves in Vietnam and contribute to the country'ssocio-economic development.
They were asked to use theirknowledge of foreign cultures, business and management to act as abridge between Vietnamese goods and foreign markets and help domesticenterprises meet criteria to avoid lawsuits from foreign consumers.
The Ministry would continue streamlining administrative procedures andcreate favourable conditions for Vietnamese enterprises in the countryand abroad to develop their businesses and open export markets, Bienaffirmed. The conference was jointly held by the Ministry of ForeignAffairs and VINASME./.
