Promotion of Ham Yen orange on the sidelines of a Tuyen Quang Province’s produce sales promotion conference in Hanoi in 2023 - photo: Van Doc

Ngo Quang Trung, Head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Agency for Regional Industry and Trade (ARIT), stated that in 2024, there are still many difficulties although the global and domestic markets are expected to show signs of improvement. To assist industrial businesses in rural areas in gradually recovering production, the Ministry of Industry and Trade continues to mobilize and efficiently utilize all available resources through industry promotion programs. This includes promoting the development of industrial and handicraft industries, encouraging technology transfer and application, and promoting cleaner production towards sustainable growth. The ministry also aims to facilitate trade connectivity for rural industrial products. The focus will be on supporting key areas, main and potential products, and products with competitive advantages of regions and localities, ensuring the maximum utilization of existing resources and capacities of rural industrial establishments.

Furthermore, to expand markets, especially export markets for rural industrial products, the Ministry of Industry and Trade helps businesses and production facilities attend foreign trade fairs, particularly in markets with which Vietnam has signed free trade agreements (FTA), to take advantage of FTAs’ incentives.

In 2023, through industry promotion programs, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, as well as localities, supported the construction of 10 technical demonstration models for new product manufacturing and the application of new technologies. They also supported 385 facilities in applying modern machinery to industrial production lines, with a majority of projects/tasks concentrated on farm produce, forest product, seafood and food processing industries.

Supporting rural industrial producers' participation in domestic exhibitions and trade fairs is also an important task. Last year, nearly 4,000 standard booths were provided for 2,308 rural industrial facilities participating in domestic exhibitions and trade fairs, contributing to product promotion and market expansion. As a result, many rural industrial products have become well-known and trusted by consumers.n