The Vietrade and Alibaba.com sign an MoU on supporting Vietnamese firms to boost online export and organised an international e-commerce conference in Hanoi on March 16. (Source: baocongthuong.vn)
Under the MoU, Alibaba.com pledged to provide technical assistance in digital transformation for trade promotion organisations and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) of Vietnam.
Meanwhile, Vietrade, an agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), is committed to working with Alibaba.com to improve the digital transformation and e-commerce capacity of the targeted groups. They are set to continue organising a series of capacity building events to benefit more than 1,200 businesses nationwide in the next three years.
Besides, long-term cooperation plans related to digital transformation, business brand and product trademark building, awareness improvement, and advice provision for firms to operate on Alibaba.com will also be made and implemented concertedly.
Addressing the e-commerce conference - the first big event of Alibaba.com in Vietnam, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai said e-commerce in Vietnam grew 18 percent in 2020 to reach 11.8 billion USD. Though the expansion was slower than forecast, Vietnam was still the only Southeast Asian nation to post a double-digit growth rate in e-commerce.
As the COVID-19 pandemic has seriously hampered global trading and supply chains, the MoIT has directed Vietrade to adjust many activities to the reality, including stepping up online trade promotion to help enterprises fuel export.
Hai held that Alibaba.com, one of the world’s leading e-commerce platforms, is a potential market for Vietnamese businesses to boost sales to customers around the world.
Therefore, cooperating with such big partners as Alibaba.com to carry out trade promotion and export supporting solutions will bring about more chances for local firms to expand in foreign markets, he said.
The official added the MoIT welcomed Alibaba.com’s decision to set up an office with Vietnamese staff in the country, which, he said, reflects the company’s strong and long-term commitment here.
Zhang Kuo, General Manager of Alibaba.com, said the firm has continually developed partnerships with associations, business partners, and banks with a view to helping SMEs of Vietnam improve their digital capacity and operating, customer managing and order fulfilling skills.
Via the cooperation with partners in Vietnam and the world, Alibaba.com looks to achieve over 100 billion USD in gross merchandise value by 2024, assist more than 10 million SMEs around the globe, and have over 10,000 suppliers from Vietnam involved in B2B e-commerce activities on Alibaba.com.
With the commitment to supporting 10,000 SMEs of Vietnam in five years and promoting digital transformation, Alibaba.com will keep cooperating closely with local authorities to provide suitable and effective online services and solutions, he added./.