The overseas Vietnamese business community is a key resource to help develop the distribution network, thereby increasing the export turnover of Vietnamese goods to the world.
 

The overseas Vietnamese business community is a key resource to help develop the distribution network, thereby increasing the export turnover of Vietnamese goods to the world.

This issue was emphasized by many delegates at the Seminar "Resources of the overseas Vietnamese in introducing, consuming Vietnamese goods and developing distribution channels of Vietnamese goods abroad" organized by the Ho Chi Minh City's Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs on the afternoon of June 1, 2022.

Mr. Nguyen Ho Hai, Deputy Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, Head of the Steering Committee for the campaign "Vietnamese people give priority to using Vietnamese goods" informed that, with more than 10 years of implementing the campaign " Vietnamese people give priority to using Vietnamese goods" in Ho Chi Minh City, there has been a positive change in awareness and action, strongly boosting patriotism, national self-reliance, self-esteem, self-confidence; creating a consumer culture of cadres, party members, civil servants, public employees, laborers, and people of all classes in the City. More and more companies are manufacturing Vietnamese products with high quality and competitiveness, meeting domestic and export consumption demands.

At the workshop, Mr. Dinh Vinh Cuong, Chairman of Vietnam - International Entrepreneur Networking Club shared that the City is always aware of the significant role of Vietnamese businesses and entrepreneurs at home and abroad, especially Vietnamese people living overseas in popularising, introducing, communicating and directly manufacturing and distributing Vietnamese goods to foreign countries. This is also an effective support resource for Vietnamese businesses to capture information and export opportunities to foreign markets, especially in the countries where many Vietnamese people have been living.

Prof. Nguyen Dinh Phu, Chairman of the Vietnam Entrepreneurs Association in the US said that there are more than 2 million people of Vietnamese residing in the U.S and Vietnamese-American households also buy a lot of Vietnamese consumer goods. It is estimated that Vietnamese people in the U.S spend 57 billion USD a year, or about 27,000 USD/person on buying consumer goods.

The Vietnamese business community in the US has made important contributions to the host country's economy and promotes international trade and investment; including bilateral trade and investment between Vietnam and the US. The Vietnamese enterprises ranked third in the number of businesses in the group of Asian enterprises with about 310,000 business establishments, generating revenue of about 35 billion USD/year.

According to Prof. Nguyen Dinh Phu, with the above resources, the Vietnamese business community in the US is the bridge for Vietnamese businesses to participate in trade promotion activities (fairs, exhibitions, seminars, etc.) in the country; providing information on US legal regulations for new businesses entering the US market to minimize trade risks, especially the issues on origin, quality, design of products.

"Vietnam - the US has a lot of potential to promote the export of Vietnam's key products such as seafood, agricultural products, textiles, footwear, and furniture to the US. Furthermore, enterprises of both sides can also connect and cooperate in sea and air logistics, sustainable freight transport, transport project research, warehousing services ... ", Prof. Nguyen Dinh Phu shared more.

Ms. Tra My, President of the Vietnam Business Association in China informed that China is a market of billions of people with a great demand for goods, and is an export destination for many countries in the region, including Vietnam. Although China is currently the largest export market for some Vietnamese products, the proportion of Vietnamese goods in China compared to some other countries’ in the region is still modest.

According to Ms. Tra My, before entering China market, it is necessary to clearly determine that quality is number one, but packaging and design are equally important and must protect your brand before entering foreign countries. Vietnamese new businesses must always take advantage of every opportunity and relationship to promote and introduce their products anytime, anywhere; employ a large number of local staffs and utilize all possible communication channels.

In particular, Vietnamese businesses need to change their mindset, not only selling what they have, but also investing in products that the market needs; cooperate to support many Vietnamese products to enter new markets, which will create a positive effect for Vietnamese brands abroad.

Phan Thi Thang, Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee said that the overseas Vietnamese community in general and overseas Vietnamese entrepreneurs in particular are a great resource for promoting the distribution of Vietnamese goods to the world. In order to take full advantage of this role, the domestic business community and overseas Vietnamese businesses should focus on groups of solutions to diversify, expand the form and scale of trade promotion, connect businesses with businesses, businesses with consumers abroad. At the same time, forming strategic links between distribution enterprises; between distribution and production. Thereby contributing to strengthening internal links, linking the Vietnamese business community at home and abroad to form and develop supply chains, distribute valuable, stable goods and open markets.

Ms. Phan Thi Thang also asked the Committee on Overseas Vietnamese in Ho Chi Minh City to collaborate with overseas Vietnamese associations to strengthen the role of each overseas Vietnamese as an ambassador of Vietnamese goods in the host country; connecting and popularising for overseas Vietnamese communities to give priority to using Vietnamese goods while connecting and promoting trade promotion activities, helping popularise Vietnamese goods to international friends./.