Acute respiratory infections caused by new strains of corona virus (Covid 19) have a comprehensive impact on all aspects from health, transportation, tourism, education, trade ... It can be seen that this epidemic has a great impact on Vietnam's exports especially to the Chinese market.

In response to the Covid 19 epidemic, over the past time, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has coordinated with ministries, departments and branches to implement many specific actions to support enterprises. In particular, to support enterprises to boost exports, diversify markets and minimize impacts from China - which is a large market for Vietnamese enterprises especially for agricultural products from the beginning of this year, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has implemented a series of activities under the National Trade Promotion Program (NTP) in 2020.

From February from 5th to 7th, 2020, the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association (Vinafruit) organized a delegation of 9 Vietnamese enterprises to participate in the Fruit Logistica Exhibition and Wholesale Fair in Berlin, Germany under the National Trade Promotion Program 2020 approved by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

During the Fair, the Vietnam Pavilion welcomed many European customers: Netherlands, Germany, France and Spain. In particular, a business from Russia has signed an order of 2-3 million USD with an enterprise of Binh Thuan province. In addition, businesses from the US, Canada, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) ... have signed to buy dragon fruit, seedless lemons ... from Vietnam.

Vinafruit said that the total value of orders and contracts that Vietnamese businesses signed at this year's fair increased by 50-100% over last year. Expected turnover of about 15-20 million USD for the items: dragon fruit, passion fruit, seedless lemon, green skin pomelo, sweet potato, mango, lychee, milk breast, rambutan ... will be participating by businesses. The project will be implemented from now until the end of 2020.

Currently, the leading German supermarket chains such as Netto, Edeka, Selgros have successfully imported and distributed Vietnamese fruit products especially dragon fruit.

Not only agricultural products, from February from 3th-6th, 2010, a delegation of 10 Vietnamese handicraft enterprises participated in the Spring Fair International Fair under the NTP 2020. This is the largest trade fair in Vietnam. The UK specializes in handicrafts, gifts, household goods and interior decoration. Held annually, Spring Fair has attracted a lot of quality customers from the UK, Europe and many countries around the world.

Participating in this fair, the Vietnamese business delegation introduced a variety of handicraft products from traditional products such as bamboo, rattan, ceramics of Hapro enterprises, Chu Dau ceramics, jewelry products of Thinking and Minh Giang to new products such as leather handicrafts of Bright Vietnam, handmade paintings by Anh & Em, wooden boats from Thien Thuong…. The impressive design and staging of Vietnam's booth has attracted the special attention of customers to the fair.

Right after the opening day, there were 152 customers interested in Vietnamese products. They said that before, they imported a lot of goods from other customers in the EU community with domestic incentives. With Brexit, they need to find other suppliers to replace and this is a good opportunity for Vietnamese handicrafts to further strengthen their presence in the UK market.

Next time, the National Trade Promotion Program continues to organize many events to support businesses. Here, at the Vietnam International Furniture and Handicrafts Fair (VIFA Expo 2020), the Ho Chi Minh City Handicraft and Wood Industry Association (HAWA) will host a delegation of buyers from Canada to visit fair and direct meeting with Vietnamese businesses.

This is an activity under the National Trade Promotion Program, supported by the Department of Trade Promotion, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Vietnamese and Canadian trade agencies, domestic and foreign partners to strengthen trade connections of Vietnam – Canada to exploit potential markets and boost export turnover.

Here, from March 22nd to 1st April, 2020, the Trade Promotion Agency (Ministry of Industry and Trade) will directly preside over a trade transaction delegation in the Kingdom of Belgium the Federal Republic of Germany and the Netherlands to welcome the Valuable business opportunities from the Vietnam - EU Free Trade Agreement will bring about in the coming time. It is expected that there will be about 30 Vietnamese enterprises in the fields of: food and beverages (tea, coffee, fish sauce, macadamia ...), home appliances, handicrafts, textiles (towels cotton, restaurant cold towels, clothing), cosmetics, medical consumable supplies, essential oils, building materials (film-coated plywood, MDF panels ...) ... join the delegation.

In recent years, the National Trade Promotion Program has played a fundamental role in the general trade promotion activities of the whole country, mobilizing resources to effectively support businesses in consolidating and expanding export markets to develop domestic markets.

The National Trade Promotion Program has actively contributed to boosting exports and bringing Vietnam's import-export turnover to 500 billion USD in 2019. Up to now, Vietnam's goods have been present in over 200 countries and territories, in which many markets have high standards and quality requirements such as the United States, Japan, EU and Korea ...