Hanoi (VNA) – The Industry and Trade Department of Hanoi on August 17 judged entries sent to the city’s handicraft product design contest i🌼n 2023 which was launched in the locality from March this year.

Themed “Enhancing creativity - promoting quintessence of the capital city’s handicraft trades”, the contest attracted a total 355 handicraft products and sets of products from 146 individuals and organisations. There is a wide variety of entries, from mother-of-pearl inlay, wood, horns, bronze and stone, lacquer, bamboo and rattan, ceramics, to silk and embroidery products. They will be evaluated and scored based on such criteria as creativity, commercial value, aesthetics, environmental friendliness and traditional culture. The 15 most outstanding works of each group will be selected to submit to the municipal People’s Committee for reward. Awarded products will be introduced at exhibitions and fairs. The contest aims to encourage enterprises, production establishments, artisans and designers to seek new ideas and promote creativity in the designing, and production of handicraft products. Hanoi has 1,350 craft villages producing diverse, sophisticated and high-quality products. Some of these products have gained firm footholds in the market. Craft villages employ around one million labourers in rural areas with an average income of 5-6 million VND per month per person. The city authority has introduced many policies to support handicraft village development through trade promotion programmes, national industrial promotion programmes, and local industrial promotion programmes. Craft villages contribute about 8-10% of the city's total export value. Nearly 200 craft villages earn 10-50 billion VND (420,000 – 2.1 million USD) in revenue per year, with some making 10-25 trillion VND. In 2022, the Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Rural Development advised the City People's Committee to introduce policies on the development of rural industries and craft villages in Hanoi in the 2021-2025 period and beyond. The department has coordinated with relevant agencies to organize training courses on craft village capacity building, vocational training classes and human resources training courses for craft villages, aligned with the implementation of the city's One Commune One Product (OCOP) Programme. Among Hanoi's 1,350 craft villages, 318 craft villages are certified as traditional craft villages. Some typical of them are Bat Trang pottery village, Kieu Ky gold and silver-inlaid village, Van Phuc silk production village, Quat Dong embroidery village, Phu Vinh bamboo and rattan village and Thuy Ung horn carving village. Nhat Tan, Quang Ba, Nghi Tam, Tay Tuu and Me Linh are very famous flower and bonsai villages. The Hanoi People's Committee launched Plan 49/KH-UBND dated February 10, 2023 on the development of OCOP Creative Design, Introduction, Promotion and Marketing Center and craft villages with tourism in districts and towns in Hanoi in 2023. According to the plan, by the end of 2023, Hanoi will develop from 5-9 models of OCOP Creative Design, Introduction, Promotion and Marketing Center and craft villages with tourism in the following communes: Bat Trang (Gia Lam district), Duyen Thai (Thuong Tin district), Chuyen My (Phu Xuyen district), Phu Nghia (Chuong My district), Duyen Ha (Thanh Tri district), Di Trach (Hoai Duc district), Van Ha (Dong Anh district), Hoa Lam (Ung Hoa district), Van Phuc (Ha Dong district) or other suitable locations. The establishment of the above centers aims to create a supportive environment for rural industrial, production and trading entities in craft villages to form and develop creative designs, introduce, advertise and market OCOP products and tourism-driven craft villages to facilitate rural economic restructuring in the city. In the coming time, Hanoi will continue to support capable and potential places to develop community-based tourism and traditional craft village tourism products; formulate and implement mechanisms and policies on investment support for rural tourism development in craft villages./.