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Craft villages’ plea for help receives heavyweight backing
The Vietnam Retailers’ Association has thrown its weight behind the nation’s craft villages, launching a programme to assist them with the production and sale of their products.
The scheme is part of an attempt to restore production levels in those craft villages that are suffering heavy financial losses due to poor sales.
President of the Vietnam Retailers’ Association, Phan The Rue, affirmed that this cooperation is the only way to maintain production levels, increase competitiveness and strengthen the brand of Vietnam ’s products, both domestically and overseas.
Luu Duy Dan, Vice President and General Secretary of the Vietnam Craft Villages’ Association, said that this cooperation is an urgent and necessary measure at a time when the country is coming to grips with the effects of opening its retail markets in accordance with its WTO commitments.
The cooperation programme is expected to be submitted to the Prime Minister for approval early next month.
The association said that, during 2008, 1,400 out of 2,790 craft villages throughout the country suffered losses, with a number of them losing up to 800 billion VND because they could not find outlets for their products. If the craft villages cannot address these difficulties, the lives of approximately 11 million local workers would be seriously affected, Dan said.
A number of craft villages have been proactive in their attempts to overcome these problems by cooperating with trade centres and major distribution groups to expand the market for their products. The cooperation began with agreements between the Que Huong green bean cake joint stock company and the Phu Thai Group and Melinh Plaza .
Dan revealed that Melinh Plaza had pledged 4,000 sq.m of rent-free floor space to craft villages to showcase their products over three months. However, despite these measures, the situation has not improved.
One of Vietnamese craft villages’ biggest weaknesses is a perceived poor design of their products, meaning that their high-quality products have not yet had the opportunity to gain a firm foothold in the market.
As well as the assistance of the State, the leader of the Craft Villages’ Association called upon ministries, services and businesses to help the craft villages advertise their products and to promote trade.
Rue said that he expected this cooperation to gradually expand to include local businesses and foreign investment businesses operating in Vietnam , and encompass the production of consumer goods, industrial products and industrial materials.
A new award scheme is to be established to recognise the work of specific individuals, businesses and distributers who make outstanding contributions to the success of the programme.
VNA
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