Industry and trade enhance linkages for development

In the first 6 months of 2019, domestic commercial activities of Binh Duong province continued to be stable, goods were plentiful, abundant in appearances and types, domestic goods dominated the market. Industry and trade sectors in the province continued enhancing linkages with other localities in the region.

Good performance of market stabilization

In the first 6 months of this year, because governmental branches and levels in the province performed well the market stabilization program and goods reserve plan before, during and after Lunar New Year 2019, the price of essential goods was stable, there was no price hike, contributing to curbing inflation, fully serving the people’s shopping needs.

Total retail sales of goods and service revenue of the whole province in the first 6 months were estimated at VND 111,831.5 billion, up 15.8% y/y; in which domestic economic sector was estimated at VND106,605.1 billion, FDI sector was estimated at VND5,226.4 billion. Particularly in June 2019, total retail sales of goods and service revenue of the province was estimated at VND18,645.5 billion, up 0.8% m/m and up 19.1% y/y.

Binh Duong Industry and Trade sector has made great efforts in strengthening linkages for development. In photo: Customers visit and shop at a booth of Binh Duong Agricultural Supply - Demand Conference 2018.

Reports of the Ministry of Industry and Trade at the 6th Industry and Trade Conference of Southern provinces and cities, with topic "Industry and trade sector with building regional product brands", held in Ba Ria - Vung Tau recently, showed that industrial production index of the southern provinces and cities continued to grow well compared to the same period of 2018. Total retail sales of goods and service revenue of the Southern region reached VND1,381,540 billion, an increase of 11.87% y/y, accounting for 57.78% of the whole country (in which Binh Duong increased by 15.8%); total export turnover reached $55.869 billion, up 9.69% y/y, accounting for 45.53% of the whole country.

Speaking at the conference, Lai Viet Anh, Deputy Director of Department of E-Commerce and Digital Economy under Ministry of Industry and Trade, said e-commerce was currently developing very strongly. However, localities need to cooperate with Ministry of Industry and Trade to develop an e-commerce scheme in their localities to have appropriate support policies. In the near future, the ministry will assist businesses in promoting Vietnamese brands, trade and export.

Many efforts in regional links

At the 6th Industry and Trade Conference of Southern provinces and cities, many delegates expressed their opinions on the linkage within the southern key economic zone to boost production, trade and service development.

According to Dr. Tran Du Lich, former Director of Ho Chi Minh City's Economic Institute, one of the factors causing difficulties for regional linkage in the southern key economic zone is traffic, due to lack of mechanism. Therefore, in order for our region to become an extreme growth area, there must be a coordinating unit. Regarding transport infrastructure, it is necessary to have breakthrough and high political determination.

With the same view, the Assoc. Prof. - Dr. Tran Dinh Thien, former Director of Vietnam Economic Institute, said that it is not advisable to assess Southern key economic region in terms of contributions to local gross domestic product (GRDP) or budget revenue, this cannot solve the current problem. He proposed that the Government should have a long-term strategy; power should be delegated to local authorities, so that the localities could take initiative and be creative in operations. In addition, it is necessary to set up a regional consulting and associating team in business.

With the active trade linking with localities, Binh Duong organized many conferences and seminars on supply - demand connection for agricultural products and foodstuffs supplied by other localities. However, according to assessment of industry and trade authorities, these conferences and seminars did not achieved the desired results. Nguyen Van Danh, Director of provincial Department of Industry and Trade, said that industry and trade sector in the province were looking forward to a specific policy from the state management on goods supply and demand to increase the value of commodity products and services.

Reported by Tieu My – Translated by Ngoc Huynh