Hanoi (VNA) – A selection of97 Vietnamese producers of national-branded products from this year will beannounced at a ceremony at the Hanoi Opera House in downtown Hanoi on December 20.

The information was revealed at a pressconference held by the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Vietnam Trade PromotionAgency (Vietrade) on December 12.

Vietrade General Director Vu Ba Phu said thatthis year, about 1,500 enterprises have registered or been nominated byministries, state agencies, cities, provinces, and industry associations toachieve national brand status. Among them, 97 businesses were selected, he noted.

Established in 2003, the Vietnam NationalBrand Programme aims to improve localbusinesses’ awareness and ability in building, developing, and protectingbrands. This will help develop strong trademarks and contribute to enhancing thereputation of Vietnamese products both domestically and internationally.

The VietnamNational Brand Programme is not a branding award ceremony, but rather the only VietnameseGovernment programme to advertise the country’s image and trademark throughproducts and services, Phu added.

According to the Vietrade, the national brand enterprise selection isconducted every two years in order to encourage them to continue to share andpursue the values of the programme including quality, innovation, creativity,and pioneering capacity.

On the basisof promoting these values, firms compete in their industries and fields ofproduction and business based on constant innovation and improved productquality.

In October, Brand Finance – the world’s leading independentbranded business valuation and strategy consultancy – valued Vietnam’s nationalbrand at 235 billion USD, a year-on-year increase of 16 percent.

Vietnam’s national brand value has moved up two places from the2017 ranking, to rank 43rd this year thanks to implementation of its nationalprogramme “Vietnam Value.”

This now places the country among the world’s top 50 most valuablenational brands. –VNA