To implement the National Program on Trade Promotion in 2022, the Trade Promotion Agency (Ministry of Industry and Trade) in collaboration with the Vietnam Trade Office in Sweden (concurrently Norway, Denmark, Iceland, and Latvia) organized a trade transaction delegation in Sweden and Norway from August 6-16, 2022. These are two potential markets that are still open for a variety of Vietnamese products in the Nordic region.

To implement the National Program on Trade Promotion in 2022, the Trade Promotion Agency (Ministry of Industry and Trade) in collaboration with the Vietnam Trade Office in Sweden (concurrently Norway, Denmark, Iceland, and Latvia) organized a trade transaction delegation in Sweden and Norway from August 6-16, 2022. These are two potential markets that are still open for a variety of Vietnamese products in the Nordic region.

Participating in the transaction delegation included leaders of the Trade Promotion Department, leaders of the two provinces of Thai Binh and Quang Ngai, and representatives of 23 enterprises from 8 provinces and cities of Vietnam in the fields of agricultural products, food, consumer goods, apparel, footwear, mechanics, automobiles, food technology, renewable energy...

Within the framework of activities in Sweden, on August 9, 2022, the Delegation attended a seminar on business opportunities with the Swedish market at the headquarters of the Embassy of Vietnam in Sweden. At the seminar, Ambassador Phan Dang Duong said that the relationship between the two countries has made new progress after high-level visits to both countries. With a high-tech-oriented knowledge economy and a comprehensive social welfare system, Sweden is a leader in the research, application, and use of green, clean, renewable, and economical technologies. energy saving. These are my priorities in advancing our relationship with you. The Embassy is also promoting the implementation of the proposal to open direct flights to Vietnam and Northern Europe to open up opportunities for Vietnamese goods to enter this region more smoothly in the near future.

Ms. Nguyen Hoang Thuy - Vietnam Trade Counselor in Sweden informed the delegation to better understand the Nordic market, in which, highlighting consumer trends and market opportunities. Ms. Thuy said that Vietnam's export turnover to Sweden is currently leading among ASEAN countries, but the market share is still quite modest. Although Nordic is small, she added, the markets are at the forefront of consumer trends. Therefore, businesses need to grasp the trends in these markets in order to innovate, take shortcuts, catch up and break through successfully.

Speaking at the meeting, Mr. Nguyen Quang Hung - Member of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, said that although the Covid-19 epidemic was complicated, Thai Binh had controlled it, protected the health and lives of people and created a favorable environment for production and business enterprises. The export market of the province is relatively diverse but the value is not great; goods entering the EU are mainly handicrafts, and the desire of the business is to bring their goods to penetrate deeply into the Nordic market. Thai Binh is facing great development opportunities with the Thai Binh Economic Zone being planned with a large land fund for the development of industrial, urban, and service zones.; Besides, many important traffic projects are being invested to shorten the travel time from Thai Binh to the northern provinces, including Cat Bi airport, Lach Huyen seaport, and Hai Phong city. With that potential and the desire to develop the province, Thai Binh is currently focusing on calling for investment and wants to have big investors from Europe and Sweden invest in the province.

Mr. Tran Phuoc Hien - Vice Chairman of Quang Ngai Provincial People's Committee also introduced the business and investment environment of Quang Ngai Province and wished that the Vietnamese Embassy in Sweden and the Ministry of Industry and Trade would pay attention, support the province to connect, promote and attract large Swedish investors to invest in Quang Ngai.

During the work program in Sweden, the delegation came to deal directly with many import warehouses, and distribution hubs for agricultural products, seafood, food, and consumer goods such as Madam Hong Import Export, CT Food Stockholm, Garden Food Stockholm, East Asian Food, A Chau Lien Export-Import to learn how the warehouses operate, the demand for goods of the Swedish market through the import and export traffic of the warehouses. Among these, there are warehouses that import a variety of agricultural products and foods from Vietnam and are in need of developing a new list of imported items. Besides, there is a warehouse that does not know much about Vietnamese goods, so the delegation's visit to offer specific and direct introductions about high-quality products, in line with the consumer demand of the Swedish market as well as the benefits of the EVFTA for the import of goods from Vietnam, warehouses have more conditions to assess the possibility of importing from Viet Nam in the near future.

Representative of Garden Food AB Company - Mr. Moris Marwan Farkouh said that the company now has import demand for Vietnamese pangasius products. He also emphasized the requirements, certifications, and certificates for products when exported to the Swedish market.

The delegation also had a meeting with the Swedish Association of Minerals and Metals, the Vietnam Business Association in Sweden, and Gothenburg Port to establish cooperation relationships in related fields of localities and enterprises participating in the Delegation.

Ms. Maria - a representative of the Swedish Association of Minerals and Metals emphasized that the mineral and metal industry is a very important industry in Sweden and will continue to develop in the future. With modern technology, Ms. Maria hopes that Vietnamese and Swedish businesses can cooperate in this field in the near future.

Mr. Claes Sundmark - Vice President of Sales and Marketing of Gothenburg Port, said that Vietnam is a priority market for the port's development in the coming time. The cooperation between the ports of the two countries will create conditions to bring more Vietnamese goods to Sweden.

The delegation also spent the next time working with Cellmark Corporation, which is active in commercial activities in the fields of basic materials, chemicals, paper, packaging, pulp, recyclables, energy, and plastics, and discussed potential cooperation in the context that this Group wants to expand its supply chain in Vietnam.

Through the business trip, the delegation realized that Sweden in particular and Northern Europe in general is a potential market for Vietnamese goods that should be exploited in the near future. Many businesses of the delegation had the opportunity to learn methods, skills, and experience in business management, and market development, and grasp the standards, and commodity standards of the EU, from which there is an innovation from corporate governance to production and business activities for market development and successful integration.