On the morning of February 2, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attended the opening ceremony of the The First Glorious Spring Fair 2026, a national-scale trade promotion event inaugurating a series of annual fairs.

Also present at the ceremony were Deputy Prime Minister Bui Thanh Son, Head of the National Fairs Steering Committee; Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Truong Thanh Hoai; leaders of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment; representatives of the Hanoi People’s Committee; ambassadors and representatives of foreign organizations in Vietnam; and delegates from various localities.

A new impetus to energize labor and production from the very start of the year

At the opening ceremony on February 2, PM Chinh underscored that, amid the joyful and buoyant atmosphere of the early days of the new year, as the country prepares to welcome the traditional Lunar New Year of the Binh Ngo year and celebrate the resounding success of the 14th National Party Congress, while looking ahead to the 96th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of Vietnam (February 3, 1930 - February 3, 2026), it was a great pleasure to gather for the opening of the inaugural Spring Fair 2026. The event, he said, is a “launchpad” poised to ignite domestic consumption, a new “impulse” to rekindle enthusiasm for work and business, and a strategic “lever” to catalyze breakthrough development right from the outset of 2026.

PM Chinh stressed that the Spring Fair 2026, themed “Connecting Prosperity – Welcoming a Glorious Spring,” is being held at the Vietnam Exhibition Center, a project emblematic of “speed and boldness,” “modernity and distinctiveness.” It stands as a new symbol that vividly reflects the stature and standing of the thousand-year-old heroic capital. The fair builds on the resounding successes of the exhibition “80 Years of Independence - Freedom - Happiness,” which achieved unprecedented scale and outreach, alongside numerous major political, economic, and cultural events hosted at the Vietnam Exhibition Center, including the country’s first “national mega-fair”, the Autumn Fair 2025.

Accordingly, the Spring Fair 2026 is expected to continue serving as a premier destination for trade and a professional, large-scale platform for trade and investment promotion nationwide, laying the “foundation” for realizing Vietnam’s aspiration to become a regional and international hub for fairs and exhibitions.

PM Chinh emphasized that despite the enormous workload, tight timelines, and exceptionally high quality requirements, the fair opened on schedule thanks to a spirit of “high determination, great effort, and decisive action,” with a mindset of “moving forward, never retreating.” This achievement, he noted, came under the close guidance of the Government and the Prime Minister, with strong participation and support from ministries, sectors, localities, the public, and the domestic and international business community, together with substantial assistance from Vingroup. It stands as vivid proof of the ethos: “A facilitating State, pioneering enterprises, public-private partnership, a prosperous nation, a happy people.”

“On behalf of the Government, I commend and highly appreciate the Ministry of Industry and Trade, along with ministries, agencies, localities, the business community, especially Vingroup, the public, and international friends for their concerted efforts, unity, and proactive participation in organizing the inaugural Spring Fair 2026,” PM Chinh said.

Three major expectations for the Spring Fair 2026

Featuring more than 3,000 booths across eight zones on a grand scale of over 100,000 square meters, the fair offers a vibrant, multi-colored “spring journey across Vietnam” for visitors to explore and shop. Building on and advancing the “six superlatives” of the first Autumn Fair 2025, this Spring Fair continues to shape and position its own distinctive values.

First, the Prime Minister said, this is a fair of identity and aspiration, a place where traditional culture and contemporary creativity converge harmoniously; where a rich array of cultural, culinary, and experiential programs create unique and engaging spaces for people to celebrate spring and welcome the Lunar New Year; and where the collective strength and shared benefits of ministries, sectors, localities, and thousands of domestic and international enterprises, cooperatives, and production facilities are brought together.

Second, the fair is people-centered and geared toward a community that enjoys high-quality products. It brings together the finest goods under the “six best” criteria: the most refined, highest quality, most abundant, safest, most modern, and most competitively priced. It serves as a powerful platform to promote pride in the movement “Vietnamese prioritize Vietnamese goods,” while resolutely waging a direct “battle” against substandard products of unclear origin.

Third, the fair connects the arteries of trade, facilitating the flow of commerce, business, and consumption; linking domestic and international resources; and successfully “unlocking” new potential and development opportunities. It provides a forum for businesses to seek partners and markets, expand cooperation and investment, exchange experience, receive technology transfers, foster innovation, pursue green and digital transformation, build supply networks, and integrate more deeply into global value chains.

With these standout core values, and in order to gradually build and affirm the Spring Fair’s annual brand as a trusted destination and reputable address for consumers of Vietnamese goods, the Prime Minister outlined three major expectations for this year’s fair.

First, it should become a globally scaled hub of prosperity. Success should not be measured solely by revenue, but also by its convening power, bringing together products, markets, partners, customers, and business opportunities. The fair must evolve into a modern trading platform integrating digital technologies to enhance the consumer experience and enable Vietnamese enterprises to connect with international customers and markets more quickly, strongly, and effectively. It should also serve as a bridge integrating Vietnam’s cultural industries into domestic, regional, and global trade flows.

Second, it should breathe life into Vietnamese products while promoting and affirming the value of the Vietnam brand. The fair must go beyond a simple product showcase to reflect the nation’s economic level, production capacity, and commercial and service value, conveying Vietnam’s stature and position while helping national brands soar further onto the global stage. Each product should act as a cultural “ambassador,” and each booth as a “heritage space,” projecting an image of a dynamic, confident, peaceful, stable, and developing Vietnam.

Third, it should unleash fresh momentum for the country’s economy, trade, and services. The fair is expected to ignite the spirit of labor and production, spread innovation, inspire dedication, and mobilize society to create developmental value, while also strengthening consumer confidence. In doing so, it will generate the momentum, capacity, and powerful impetus needed to drive double-digit economic growth in the coming years.

To ensure that the inaugural Spring Fair truly becomes a national consumer festival, where the essence of “Vietnamese goods, Vietnamese identity, and Vietnamese intellect” converge in a harmonious “spring symphony” ushering in a prosperous new year and a new era—the Prime Minister urged the Ministry of Industry and Trade to ensure the best and most prioritized conditions for the fair’s success. He called on the ministry to treat this fair as a strategic “stepping stone” toward developing a national fair model that meets international standards, positioning Vietnam’s international fair brand as a credible hallmark on the regional and global trade map as early as 2026.

At the same time, ministries, agencies, and localities were urged to proactively shift their mindset from merely “displaying products” to “promoting Vietnamese values,” and to accelerate the application of digital technologies in supply-demand connectivity and the promotion of regional specialties and OCOP products, bringing Vietnamese brands closer to international friends. They were also encouraged to actively organize distinctive cultural, musical, and experiential activities to create a vibrant atmosphere that serves and benefits the people.

PM Chinh also called on the Hanoi People’s Committee to focus on ensuring security, safety, environmental sanitation, and high-quality public services with the utmost care and dedication, so that every visitor can enjoy a safe, civilized, and joyful Tet shopping experience.

Associations, corporations, enterprises, and entrepreneurs were urged to uphold a pioneering, locomotive spirit to lead breakthrough development, proactively connect and seek partners, and participate more deeply and sustainably in national and international supply chains, demonstrating that Vietnamese products can conquer global markets not only through quality, but also through cultural identity, responsibility, and sustainable value.

Addressing international organizations and partners, the Prime Minister said Vietnam hopes they will not merely be guests, but bridges and trusted partners, bringing core technologies, high-quality capital, and global sustainable consumption trends to Vietnam, and carrying Vietnam’s strengths to the world more quickly, broadly, effectively, and decisively.

He also called on media organizations to continue amplifying information, spreading the vitality of spring and the nation’s aspiration to rise, starting from this very fair, through Vietnamese products, consumer goods, and culture.

In closing, the Prime Minister shared his expectations: “Spring is the season of growth, of faith, and of good hopes. The inaugural Spring Fair 2026 is a ‘seed of prosperity’ that we sow together in the early days of the new year, to be harvested over time through unity and collective effort in building the Vietnamese goods brand in a new era. We believe that the success of the fair will generate momentum, inspire motivation, strengthen confidence, and spread aspiration, enabling our entire Party, people, and armed forces to move forward steadily, swiftly, and resolutely into a new era: an era of strong, prosperous, civilized, and happy development, firmly advancing toward socialism.”