According to Duong Quoc Trinh, Deputy Director of the Agency for Regional Industry and Trade under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Government has promulgated Decree 45/2012/ND-CP to encourage industrial development in rural and mountainous areas.

Industry promotion policies have considerably changed the awareness of industrial and craft production for people in mountainous areas.

Making bamboo mats at the 688 One Member Limited Liability Company in Cao Bang Province’s Nguyen Binh District - photo: Quang Lam

Over the past five years, the budget for industry promotion in mountainous areas has increased. The budget for some industry promotion programs in mountainous areas is higher than that for similar programs in other areas.

So far, industry promotion programs have provided support for 1,793 industrial and craft production facilities of ethnic minority people in mountainous areas, helping them enhance management effectiveness and capacity, expand production and become more competitive in the market.

Duong Quoc Trinh said that industry promotion programs give priority to industrial production facilities in areas facing difficulties, especially mountainous areas populated by ethnic minority communities. Despite this priority, the number of industrial production facilities registered to participate in the programs remains limited.

This limitation is attributed to the fact that most industrial production facilities are weak in terms of financial capacity, competitiveness and management skills.

Other factors making industrial production facilities unwilling to participate in industry promotion programs include geographical distance and poor road conditions. Moreover, the staff of industry promotion centers keeps changing, making it difficult for the centers to ensure the quality of industry promotion activities.

From now to 2025, industry promotion programs will continue creating impetus for industrial and craft production, facilitating industrial production facilities’ access to opportunities for digital economy development, helping them increase productivity, improve product quality, enhance competitiveness, and effectively implement the international economic integration roadmap.