On September 6, the Ministry of Industry and Trade coordinated with the People's Committee of Can Tho City to organize a conference on trade promotion and import-export development in the Mekong Delta region in both direct and online formats.
The conference was chaired by Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Phan Thi Thang with the participation of about 200 delegates, including leaders of People's Committees of provinces and cities in the Mekong Delta region, leaders of relevant units under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, industry associations, representatives of business support agencies and organizations, manufacturing, import-export, trade, logistics service enterprises, etc.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, many Vietnamese commodity groups have exceeded the export turnover of more than 1 billion USD, such as vegetables, rice, shrimp... mostly from the Mekong Delta. Particularly for rice, in 2024, it is estimated that the total rice export volume of the whole country will remain at over 8 million tons, of which 7.6 million tons will come from the Mekong Delta alone.
In general, up to now, the Mekong Delta region is contributing about 31% of the GDP of the entire agricultural sector with about 50% of rice output, 95% of rice exports, 65% of aquaculture and exploitation output, 60% of fish exports and approximately 70% of fruits of all kinds...
Despite its many strengths, the economy in the Mekong Delta is still considered to be developing at a pace that is not commensurate with its potential. In addition, this development is also facing challenges such as climate change, water resource depletion, saltwater intrusion, etc.
Therefore, the conference is a channel for sharing and exchanging valuable information, discussing to deploy support solutions, linking more closely and effectively inside and outside the region in trade promotion and import-export development; for the goal of supporting businesses in the region to grow stronger, helping the region's products and services reach further to domestic and foreign markets, contributing to promoting the development of the region in line with the orientation stated in the Mekong Delta Planning for the period 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050 of the Prime Minister.
Speaking at the conference, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Phan Thi Thang emphasized that in order for the Mekong Delta to develop to its full potential, one of the important solutions is to promote regional linkages in trade promotion and import and export to gather and optimize resources of localities in the region to serve sustainable development.
The Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade hopes that representatives of localities in the region will focus on exchanging and discussing solutions to enhance strengths and minimize internal weaknesses of the region to contribute to making intra-regional trade, domestic trade and import-export activities of the Mekong Delta more prosperous in the coming time, such as the direction of developing groups of industries with export advantages of the region in agriculture and industry; Building brands of high-quality goods, participating deeply in the distribution network and global value chain...
The conference also combines exhibition space and promotion of products of localities and businesses in the region, creating opportunities for trade connections between suppliers of goods and services in the Mekong Delta region with import-export enterprises and trade promotion organizations.
