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EU footwear project bears fruit
Leather and footwear enterprises had improved their competitiveness over the last two years, thanks to a Multilateral Trade Assistance project between the EU and Viet Nam, according to the secretary of the Viet Nam Leather and Footwear Association (Lefaso), Nguyen Thi Tong.
Speaking at a workshop on the In Trade project, which aims to enhance the competitiveness of leather and footwear enterprises, on Tuesday, she said this was most important, as shoes and leathergoods were one of the key export products of Viet Nam.
In two years of operation, the project had run training courses on commercial policies for senior management. These included approaching the markets, technical support for development - and study courses for overseas staff of leather and footwear enterprises, Tong said.
The project had also helped renovate designs and to develop collections of footwear to build a trade name for Viet Nam's export footwear on the domestic and world markets, she said.
Enrico Perego, from Octagona, an international business consulting organisation, said all enterprises needed to build trade marks, especially small-sized enterprises. He said trade marks were an effective way for customers to identify something they like.
Tong said the ongoing target of the project was to establish sustainable development for the industry by developing business and co-operation opportunities with foreign partners.
Viet Nam is the fourth largest exporter of footwear in the world, but 90 per cent of this is for foreign companies who supply most of the materials, much of it from China, Taiwan and South Korea. Exports hit US$2 billion every year, but the volume of it bearing Vietnamese brands accounted for only 10-15 per cent.
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