Promoting the role of subjects in the national trade promotion network

Ministry of Industry and Trade plays a key role

The report "Trade promotion in the period of 2021-2025 and some strategic orientations and trade promotion plans in the period of 2026-2030" has just been published by the Department of Trade Promotion of the Ministry of Industry and Trade to focus on assessing the current status of trade promotion in the period of 2021-2025, thereby identifying requirements and orientations to perfect the policy and legal framework and organize the implementation of effective, modern and sustainable trade promotion activities in the period of 2026-2030.

Assessing the effectiveness of organizing trade promotion activities in the period of 2021-2025, Associate Professor, Dr. Phan The Cong - University of Commerce - Head of the report author group said that in the past period, the Trade Promotion Agency in particular and the Ministry of Industry and Trade in general have proactively and flexibly managed, issued or advised competent authorities to issue policy and legal documents to implement trade promotion activities that are adaptive to new trends and developments in the world .

Under the leadership of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the trade promotion network has made progress.

“Thanks to that, trade promotion activities have initially had many important innovations at the central, local and enterprise levels. The clear orientation of trade promotion innovation has also helped mobilize domestic and foreign resources for trade promotion activities,” said Mr. Cong, emphasizing that, in addition, the organization and implementation of trade promotion plans and programs at both the central and local levels also have shortcomings, especially in unprecedented areas such as digital transformation and green transformation.

The report also pointed out that over the years, the Trade Promotion Agency has actively and effectively assumed the role of national focal point and center for the entire trade promotion network of Vietnam. The capacity of the Agency is comprehensively demonstrated in many aspects, from advising on the development of trade promotion policies and strategies for the Minister of Industry and Trade, to developing documents and plans to manage and directly implement the National Trade Promotion Program.

The Department’s expertise and professionalism are clearly demonstrated through the organization and coordination of hundreds of diverse trade promotion events each year. Discussions with trade promotion centers, associations and trade networks all acknowledge this pivotal role.

“As a coordinating focal point, the Trade Promotion Agency has actively coordinated and supported other trade promotion organizations in the system, pioneering in providing basic services such as market information and organizing training courses to improve trade promotion capacity for businesses,” Mr. Cong emphasized.

According to Mr. Cong, the Department has demonstrated its strategic vision by proactively building a Development Framework for digital transformation (Decision 1968/2021/QD-TTg) to develop modern forms of trade promotion such as trade promotion on digital platforms and green trade promotion, to help businesses adapt to new trends in global trade.

Need for cooperation and connection between associations, industries and localities

In addition to the positive aspects, according to Mr. Cong, the overall performance of the Trade Promotion Agency can be better if it can solve systemic problems and limitations. Financial resources are assessed as quite limited compared to actual needs and assigned tasks. This reality poses the biggest and structural difficulty today: the lack of coordination and connection to optimize trade promotion resources of all levels and sectors.

Through trade promotion activities, businesses have the opportunity to promote and effectively connect supply and demand.

Part of the reason, as pointed out by Mr. Cong, lies in the differences and lack of unity in the organizational models of local trade promotion agencies, and another part is due to the decentralized budget management mechanism causing inadequacies in the direction and professional coordination from the central level, making it difficult for the Trade Promotion Department to fully promote its coordinating role.

“Analysis of the 2024 Trade Promotion Capacity Index (TPCI) data shows that support and capacity building have not been implemented much for trade promotion units, especially local trade promotion centers, causing the centers to have uneven capacity and their operations do not have many connections and resource coordination,” said Mr. Cong.

In fact, in recent times, industry associations have demonstrated their outstanding strengths in terms of deep understanding of industry characteristics and gathering member enterprises. Many strong associations such as the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), the Vietnam Rubber Association (VRA), the Vietnam Steel Association (VSA), the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (Vitas), and the Vietnam Leather, Footwear and Handbag Association (Lefaso) have operated effectively, playing an active role in protecting members' interests, providing information and organizing professional international trade promotion activities, becoming effective bridges to international partners and organizations.

However, the report pointed out that the activities of some associations also revealed many limitations: uneven capacity, great dependence on individual leaders and industry scale, common is lack of funding and lack of specialized staff; slow innovation in operating methods, mainly focusing on traditional activities such as fairs and exhibitions. In addition, almost no association has proactively built a database of industry and markets, while this is a big requirement from international contacts; the connection between associations with each other and with local trade promotion centers is still loose.

Local Trade Promotion Centers have organizational models and budgets decided by the provinces. Some Centers are completely proactive in terms of budget, while others are connected to the Trade Promotion Department as the leading units to implement the National Trade Promotion Program. This is the reason for the diversity in types and budget scales, and is also a significant cause of difficulties in connection and professional coordination.

To promote trade promotion activities, there needs to be cooperation and connection between associations, industries and localities.

An important contribution to the trade promotion network is the Vietnamese trade offices abroad. The offices act as trade representatives in countries and territories, collecting, analyzing and providing information on markets, trade policies, investment, standards, technical barriers, supporting businesses in finding partners, resolving disputes and penetrating markets... However, the limitations of the offices include lack of human resources, funding, common databases, ineffective two-way coordination, complicated entry procedures, and pressure from the unstable world economic context, geopolitical conflicts, protectionism, green standards.

On the business side, experts also pointed out that there are still many shortcomings in internal capacity such as research and development, production, green transformation, digital transformation, as well as market information and trade promotion participation. Trade promotion networks can provide additional support but need to improve coordination and provide in-depth information.

Trade promotion in the new context is not only a tool to support traditional exports, but also a strategic pillar to help Vietnamese enterprises quickly adapt to changes in the global business environment, develop sustainably, transform digitally and participate deeply in the international value chain. This is an important driving force for Vietnam to enhance its international trade position and affirm its national brand in the new era of development.

However, to overcome the limitations that existed in the past period and strongly promote trade promotion activities in the period of 2026-2039, according to experts' comments at the Workshop on exchanging and developing a trade promotion report for the period of 2021-2025 and some strategic orientations and plans for 2026-2030, it is necessary to perfect the coordination mechanism, build a unified national database, improve capacity through training, increase resources (budget, Trade Promotion Fund), diversify methods (digital and green trade promotion), and apply KPIs to evaluate effectiveness. In particular, with the leadership of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the trade promotion network will become a strong ecosystem, promoting sustainable integration of Vietnam's economy.