At the 10th National Farmers’ Forum in 2025 jointly organized by the Central Vietnam Farmers’ Union and the Ministry of Industry and Trade on the morning of October 1 under the theme “Market connection - Brand building - Accelerating agricultural consumption, contributing to double-digit national growth” - the issue of placing agricultural produce from ethnic minority communities on e-commerce platforms and exporting OCOP products was raised by farmers and cooperatives and posed to the Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien.

Vuong Thi Huong, Director of Toan Thuong Agricultural Cooperative in Lang Son province, asked: “I am a farmer engaged in production, business, and processing of agricultural products, especially wind-dried persimmons and I have helped many other farmers become prosperous with our local specialties. Beyond traditional sales channels, our cooperative has transformed social platforms such as Zalo, Facebook, YouTube, and especially TikTok into effective promotion and sales channels. Could the Minister please share solutions for elevating OCOP products, local specialties, to the international stage and onto e-commerce platforms?”.

In response, Vu Ba Phu, Director General of the Trade Promotion Agency, Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), stated that under the close direction of Party and Government leadership, the Ministry has recently carried out many trade promotion activities to support the distribution of agricultural, forestry, and fishery products.

In 2024 alone, within the framework of the National Trade Promotion Program, the Ministry guided the implementation of 26 projects for agricultural and agricultural-product lines, with supporting budgets exceeding VND 26.5 billion (accounting for nearly 22 % of the Program’s total budget). The main activities included: participating in international industry fairs and exhibitions, organizing trade missions, convening export-sector international conferences, holding international fairs in Vietnam, building databases and information systems for export sectors.

As a result, thousands of enterprises and cooperatives signed contracts or memoranda of understanding with a total value of several hundred millions of US dollars, contributing to the promotion of Vietnamese agricultural products, supporting international integration, boosting sustainable exports, and affirming Vietnam’s position in global markets. At the same time, these efforts help Vietnamese enterprises understand markets and consumer preferences, connect with partners, leverage advantages from FTAs, promote products to foreign importers, secure stable sources of materials, and participate more deeply in global value chains.

In 2025, the Ministry approved 118 projects, of which 85 are for foreign trade development and 33 for domestic market development. For the agricultural sector in particular, 38 projects were approved with a total funding close to VND 35 billion.

Going forward, the Ministry will continue to prioritize support for key agricultural, forestry, and fishery products with high added value such as fruits and vegetables, aquatic products, coffee, pepper, rice, and deeply processed products. At the same time, farmers and cooperatives are encouraged to proactively comply with quality standards and traceability, and to actively coordinate with localities, associations, companies, and e-commerce platforms to promote their products.

Regarding solutions to help OCOP products and local specialty products reach e-commerce platforms, Le Hoang Oanh, Director General of the Department of E-commerce and Digital Economy, said that the Ministry continuously organizes livestream selling sessions on e-commerce platforms to support farmers and cooperatives in expanding their output and intensifying sales channels. However, as Oanh noted, the quality of goods placed on e-commerce platforms is a decisive factor.

The MoIT has issued the National E-commerce Development Plan for 2026 - 2030, which integrates objectives and solutions to promote the promotion and consumption of OCOP products and regional specialty products via e-commerce.

In addition, the MoIT organizes major annual events such as Online Friday, ASEAN Online Sales Day, promoting hundreds of thousands of local specialty products to domestic and international consumers. It operates market information portals such as Vietnamexport.com.vn (international market information) and Ecvn.com (cross-border e-commerce promotion platform), supporting thousands of enterprises in establishing storefronts, promoting products, and exporting online.

Simultaneously, the Ministry offers digital capacity building for cooperatives and business households: annually organizing hundreds of training courses with tens of thousands of participants including farmers, cooperatives, and business households. Training content focuses on e-commerce skills such as opening official storefronts, digital marketing, livestream sales, order management, and customer service.

It cooperates with major e-commerce platforms (Amazon, Alibaba, Shopee, TikTok Shop, etc.) to build OCOP storefronts; implements the “SanViet” Platform model connecting local e-commerce platforms, supporting cooperatives and business households to expand domestic and international markets.

It guides cooperatives and business households to perfect production processes, quality standards, packaging, multilingual labeling, and digital product dossiers. To date, thousands of OCOP products have been standardized and placed on e-commerce platforms, enhancing credibility and consumer trust.

It works with logistics firms, border provinces, and payment intermediaries to build solutions to reduce shipping costs, expand international delivery services, and ensure safe payments.

Regarding trade defense measures, Luong Hoang Thai, Director General of the Trade Remedies Authority under the MoIT, said that recently the Ministry has adopted many solutions to protect farmers and domestic enterprises when foreign countries apply trade defense measures. However, in order to maintain stable export momentum and protect rights and interests in export trade, farmers and cooperatives need to emphasize product traceability, raise product quality, ensure clear branding, use appropriate packaging, and register for product trademark protection.

With a role in leading, connecting, and supporting, the Ministry of Industry and Trade is assisting Vietnamese agricultural products, especially OCOP products, in improving quality and expanding domestic and international markets. The integrated solutions on standards, packaging, online promotion, and logistics not only drive consumption but also contribute to increasing farmers’ income and sustainably developing local economies.