VIS 2025 alone draws more than 300 buying delegations from 60 countries and territories, including many of the world’s top retail groups. It is regarded as an unprecedented opportunity for Vietnamese goods to access global distribution systems directly, while serving as a launchpad for achieving Viet Nam’s 2025 export growth target of 12%—a goal the Ministry of Industry and Trade affirms is fully achievable.

Delivering remarks at the opening ceremony, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Phan Thi Thang highlighted that Viet Nam’s recent import–export performance reflects the strong internal recovery of the economy. In 2024, exports reached USD 405 billion, up 14.3%, with 37 items surpassing USD 1 billion; in the first seven months of 2025, total trade turnover neared USD 515 billion, up 16.3% year-on-year. This forms a key foundation enabling Viet Nam to confidently pursue its 12% trade growth target—provided that enterprises seize opportunities from the strong wave of international buyers coming to VIS 2025.

According to Deputy Minister Thang, this is the first time central and local authorities—led by Ho Chi Minh City—have jointly organised a large-scale event series that simultaneously promotes tourism, showcases products and enterprises, and presents investment and supply chain opportunities in Viet Nam to international partners. The smooth coordination between ministries, agencies and localities has generated a synergistic effect, attracting thousands of foreign business delegations to SECC and other venues across the city and the country during the three-day programme.

From a market perspective, Ta Hoang Linh—Director General of the Department of Foreign Market Development—described the arrival of more than 300 international buying delegations as an unprecedented signal. The presence of names such as Walmart, Amazon, IKEA, H&M, Central Retail and AEON shows that global distributors are not only seeking competitive prices, but also long-term supply capability, reliability and value-chain transparency. This creates room for Vietnamese enterprises to reposition themselves within global distribution chains—not merely as seasonal or contract manufacturers.

As Viet Nam’s economic hub, Ho Chi Minh City sees VIS 2025 as a strategic opportunity to boost exports. Tran Phu Lu, Director of the Investment and Trade Promotion Center (ITPC), said the city will continue supporting enterprises in accessing global distribution systems through B2B activities and, importantly, factory and raw-material–area field trips. When international buyers can inspect production lines in person, Vietnamese companies gain stronger chances of securing long-term partnerships instead of short-term, seasonal orders.

On the distributor side, Paul Le—Vice President of Central Retail Vietnam—affirmed that VIS 2025 is a major opportunity for Vietnamese goods to expand exports via Central Group’s distribution network in Thailand and the region. AEON Vietnam representatives also stressed that traceability and green standards are prerequisites for Vietnamese goods to succeed in the Japanese market. This reinforces that the theme “Green Connection – Sustainable Development” is not just a slogan, but a practical requirement for enterprises aiming for long-term cooperation with international retail giants.

From the international buyer's perspective, a representative of Walmart—the world’s largest retailer—noted that the group is seeking partners capable of stable, sustainable supply. Viet Nam is considered an important destination in Walmart’s supply diversification strategy. With over 10,700 stores worldwide, even a few successful Vietnamese product lines could generate contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars—offering tremendous growth potential for processed agricultural products, food, textiles, footwear, furniture, spices and packaging.

Vietnamese enterprises are not merely waiting for opportunity—they are upgrading proactively. Diep Nam Hai, CEO of Cholimex, expressed the company’s intention to build strategic partnerships to deepen the penetration of Vietnamese food into demanding markets. According to him, having international buyers come directly to VIS 2025 allows companies to demonstrate production capabilities, quality management systems and compliance with strict food safety and environmental requirements.

VIS 2025 is also generating spillover effects across localities. Beyond the exhibition in Ho Chi Minh City, several provinces and cities have proactively hosted international delegations for field visits, on-site meetings with local enterprises and cooperatives. This approach is seen as a new step, linking export opportunities directly with raw-material areas and production bases, shortening the distance between international buyers and local suppliers.

From an expert viewpoint, Nguyen Viet Long—Deputy General Director of EY Vietnam—believes VIS 2025 is not only a trade event but also a “stress test” for Vietnamese enterprises’ ESG readiness, supply-chain transparency and carbon reduction capability. These are essential conditions for maintaining long-term contracts with multinational corporations amid rising global sustainability requirements.

In the tourism sector, ITE HCMC 2025 continues to affirm its role as a leading national and regional trade fair brand. Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung noted that after 18 successful editions, the 19th ITE HCMC has scaled up both in size and format, becoming a platform for countries to seek tourism development solutions, connect global destinations and build diverse and appealing tourism products. In 2025, the expo expects 28,000–30,000 visitors, 250 high-end international buyers from 32 countries, over 520 participating organisations and around 12,600 business meetings, alongside numerous forums and conferences on digital transformation, green transition and tourism entrepreneurship.

From Ho Chi Minh City’s perspective, Vice Chairman of the People’s Committee Nguyen Van Dung highlighted that following its expanded administrative structure with Ba Ria–Vung Tau and Binh Duong provinces, Ho Chi Minh City now spans 6,773 km², emerging as the country’s mega-city—its largest centre of economy, finance, logistics, trade, services and tourism, with nearly 14 million people. The city accounts for 26.3% of national retail and service turnover and over VND 200 trillion in tourism revenue, equivalent to 25% of the country. Hosting all three events simultaneously is, he said, a symbol of “harmony in development strategy” and demonstrates the city’s commitment to providing the most favourable environment for domestic and foreign enterprises to jointly build a green, sustainable and innovative economic–tourism–trade ecosystem.

Within this overall picture, VIS 2025 is seen as a central “link” in Viet Nam’s new integration corridor: from on-site exports through tourism, to global supply-chain connectivity, and onward to investment and long-term cooperation. The convergence of hundreds of international buying delegations, top global retailers and hundreds of Vietnamese enterprises in Ho Chi Minh City in early September is not only an international-scale event but also vivid proof of Viet Nam’s spirit of innovation, proactive integration and determination to elevate Vietnamese goods on the world trade map.

Việt Thành