Can Tho city focuses on advancing its key products and boosting growth in priority economic sectors, with seafood processing as a cornerstone of its industry

Could you tell us about the recent outstanding achievements of the Can Tho industry and trade sector?

Can Tho City continued to achieve optimistic socioeconomic performance in the third quarter and the first nine months of 2024. To play a significant role in that development, the industry and trade sector focused on executing solutions to remove difficulties for businesses, attract more investment capital, develop industrial and commercial infrastructure, accelerate digital transformation, boost consumption cooperation and support exports.

Domestic trade and export are two key areas in the development strategy of the industry and trade sector. The city has actively organized international trade fairs and exhibitions to help connect local businesses with foreign partners. Its key products such as rice, seafood, fruits and processed agricultural products have built a solid foothold in major markets like Japan, the United States and the EU.

The sector has also constantly supported local companies to expand their markets by improving product quality and building brands. The adoption of international quality standards such as ISO and HACCP has helped them enhance their reputation and competitiveness. In particular, the sector has carried out technical support programs for exporters and helped them overcome technical and tariff barriers in accessing international markets.

Accordingly, the city’s industrial, trade and service sectors continued to maintain growth momentum compared to the corresponding period of last year. The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) was estimated to rise by 8.02% year on year (versus the targeted growth of 6%). The total retail revenue of consumer goods and services was forecast at VND98,052.30 billion (US$4.2 billion), up 11.93% year on year, equal to 77.6% of the full-year plan. The export value of goods and services was estimated at USD1.79 billion, up 9.8% year on year, reaching 82.1% of the yearly plan.

Besides the achievements, what difficulties did the sector face? What are the solutions to tackle them?

Besides positive outcomes, the sector also confronted difficulties. Notably, business operations of most companies were hit by global political uncertainties and tight monetary policies in many countries. Key projects of the industry and trade sector were not highly effective while its investment promotion activities remained slow. The city lacked “leading firms” with strong influence and ripple effects to boost local economic development. Companies, cooperatives and rural industrial producers had a small operating scale and lacked investment capital to upgrade modern machinery and equipment and adopt advanced technologies. Although commercial and service activities were bustling, merchandise consumption remained weak.

Therefore, the sector actively coordinated with relevant units to carry out central policies and provide companies with full information about support programs and technology transfer of supporting industries from the Ministry of Industry and Trade. The Department of Industry and Trade issued the procedure for granting incentive certificates for manufacturers of supporting industrial products categorized in the industrial development priority list. Moreover, the industry and trade sector continued to support companies to promptly deal with difficulties, access preferential capital sources, promote market expansion, find outputs for products, especially local agricultural products, and develop and connect the logistics system. The sector paid attention to reviewing, adjusting and building investment attraction mechanisms suitable for new situations, with focus on reforming administrative procedures, increasing support for site clearance and facilitating companies to invest in Can Tho City.

Could you share some key upcoming tasks of the sector to support companies in developing production, improving competitiveness and expanding consumer markets?

The sector will continue to effectively implement industrial and trade programs and plans in 2021 - 2025, including industrial promotion plan, export development plan, e-commerce development plan, and information technology application and digital transformation plan in trade promotion.

Specially, improving the investment and business environment and enhancing the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) is one of the most important political tasks of the industry and trade sector. To improve and enhance the PCI Index requires the consensus and determination of government agencies and civil servants by accompanying local enterprises. The Department of Industry and Trade will further improve the effectiveness of investment promotion and attraction and facilitate companies to study local investment opportunities, especially from giant foreign and domestic investors, and prioritize investment promotion in environmentally friendly high-tech projects. The department will strengthen coordination with the Can Tho Business Association and dialogue with local companies and cooperatives to promptly grasp policy feedback and resolve emerging problems.

The department will organize conferences and seminars to inform, propagate, raise awareness and disseminate knowledge to local manufacturers and exporters about free trade agreements (FTAs) signed by Vietnam and prepared to be signed by the country so as to effectively implement commitments and help local companies to capture opportunities to boost exports and edge up competitiveness in the integration period.

Thank you so much!