Vietnam Expo 2018: A trade show of force

Addressing the opening ceremony, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Quoc Khanh said Vietnam Expo was one of the country’s largest trade promotion events, providing opportunities for domestic businesses to boost domestic sales and exports.

The expo brought together leading businesses, offering them a chance to present their products, meet prospective customers, negotiate and sign contracts.

Organizers of Vietnam Expo 2018 sought to send a message to businesses and investors that they need to seize every opportunity to cooperate for mutual development given the opportunities offered by the growing number of bilateral, regional and global trade pacts, which Vietnam is joining.

Vu Ba Phu, Head of the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (Vietrade), said Vietnam Expo was especially significant for Vietnamese small and medium enterprises in terms of exposure to potential customers.

Russia was a featured guest at Vietnam Expo 2018. Deputy Minister Tran Quoc Khanh said the Vietnamese and Russian governments, as well as their business communities, need to make great efforts to achieve the US$10 billion bilateral trade target set for 2020. “The presence of leading Russian companies in fields such as aviation technology, mining machinery, railway systems, precise engineering, automation equipment and biotechnology enables Vietnamese businesses to learn from advanced Russian technologies,” he emphasized.

Following its success in previous years, a Korea-Vietnam Design Sharing pavilion at Vietnam Expo 2018 boosted cooperation between businesses in creating new labels and packaging designs for their products.

Cuba’s national pavilion, organized by the Cuba Chamber of Commerce and the Cuban Embassy in Vietnam, has been part of Vietnam Expo over more than a decade, helping businesses expose their products and establish cooperation relations.

The Cuban business delegation to Vietnam Expo 2018 was the largest so far, consisting of representatives from 30 groups and corporations in a variety of fields, such as electrical engineering, five metals (gold, silver, copper, iron and tin), renewable energy, agriculture, biological products, pesticides, irrigation systems, pharmaceuticals and healthcare services. Cuba’s pavilion gathered not only experienced businesses but also young companies.

An investment promotion pavilion, arranged by Vietrade’s Investment Promotion Center for Industry and Trade (Investprocen), attracted a large number of visitors. Investprocen Director Tran Kim Oanh said the pavilion introduced major industries representing the economic development policies of Vietnamese localities, such as high-tech industries (Hanoi), mining (Yen Bai), petrochemicals and oil refining (Thanh Hoa), food processing (Dong Thap), engineering and automobile manufacturing (Ninh Binh), and transportation (Hai Phong). “Providing businesses with information about the investment environment in Vietnam and favorable conditions for investors in localities is important. In the spirit of cooperation for mutual development, we introduced six localities with specific advantages through Vietnam Expo 2018 and hope to see positive effects,” she said.