Trade promotional activities should focus on enhancing the export ofkey Vietnamese products and the consumption of local products in homemarkets, according to the Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai.

Henoted that the activities should be undertaken under the programme,"Vietnamese people give priority to using Vietnamese goods."

At aceremony to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Vietnam Trade PromotionAgency (Vietrade) under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) inHanoi on July 6, Hai highly appreciated Vietrade for accomplishing tasksassigned by the Government and MOIT in the past 15 years andcontributing to the national economic development and internationalintegration.

Hai expressed his hope that in the coming time, theagency would continue to complete its tasks and help the Government andministry to build efficient policies on enhancing trade promotionalactivities at home and abroad.

Trade promotional activitiesshould provide market information, including forecast on market demand,for enterprises and improve the quality of its staff to meet the demandsof the domestic economy, he remarked.

The agency should closelycooperate with foreign organisations to increase the efficiency of itspromotional activities in the future.

Between 2010 and 2014, theNational Trade Promotion Programme launched by Vietrade attracted theparticipation of more than 21,000 enterprises that earned over 46million USD and 5.3 billion USD in export contracts and sales,respectively.

Thanks to Vietrade, many Vietnamese products arenow present in large markets, including the US, the EU, China, Japan,the Republic of Korea, and the Middle East, among others.

Vietrade'strade promotional activities in Vietnam and abroad have received widesupport from the people and enterprises, especially at events such astrade fairs, workshops, exhibitions, exchanges, as well as trainingcourses for enterprises and others.

Bui Huy Son, Head ofVietrade, said sources for the national trade promotion programme hadbeen limited, but programme had partly managed to improve thecompetitive ability and development of local enterprises and their brandnames.

Lee Kyu Seon, Director-General of the Korea Trade andInvestment Promotion Agency in Hanoi, said over the past 15 years,Vietrade had efficiently held trade promotional activities, includinginternational trade exhibitions such as Expo and Foodexpo, attractingmany Korean organisations and enterprises. Through these internationalexhibitions, enterprises and organisations had promoted the commercialrelations between enterprises in both countries.

Meanwhile,Atsusuke Kawada, Chief Representative of Japan External TradeOrganisation (JETRO), said since the establishment of Vietrade, theagency and Jetro had been regularly exchanging views on trade andinvestment, apart from organising meetings between enterprises inVietnam and Japan. The two agencies have also organised annualexhibitions to encourage Vietnam's support industry.

He expectedthe two agencies to have more intensive cooperation in the future andcontribute to the development of the economic cooperation betweenVietnam and Japan.

Saigon Trading Corporation and Kinh Do LimitedCompany said local enterprises had promoted their brand name andproducts at Vietrade's trade promotional activities, especially tradefairs.

At the ceremony, the Deputy PM presented the Labour Orderfirst class to Vietrade in recognition of its achievements andcontributions to the nation over the past 15 years.

Vietrade wasestablished on July 6, 2000, in accordance with Government DecisionNo.78/2000/QD-TTG, which is directly under the MOIT.-VNA