Seminar in support of SMEs held

According to experts at the seminar "Enhancing the role of Vietnamese missions abroad in supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to participate effectively and substantively in international markets," organized by the Department of Multilateral Economic Cooperation under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) in Hanoi on December 30, Vietnamese SMEs are still facing many challenges as they expand into international markets.

Some challenges in international integration and cooperation for SMEs included limited financial resources, lack of management skills and experience, slow technological innovation and production capacity improvement, difficulties in accessing market information and international licenses, lack of professional legal teams, limitations in participating in global value chains, etc.

Besides, unlike large enterprises, SMEs often lack resources for researching and exploring international markets. As a result, they are more likely to fall into a situation where they do not fully understand or grasp international markets, leading to various risks in their export activities.

To help SMEs overcoming such challenges, experts emphasize that close coordination between Vietnamese missions abroad and the domestic business community is seen as the key for Vietnamese SMEs to enhance their competitiveness and assert their position in the global market.

Addressing the seminar, Dr. To Hoai Nam, Permanent Vice Chairman and General Secretary of the Vietnam Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (VINASME), recommended that Vietnamese missions abroad enhance specific activities to support SMEs such as improving the consulting information system, organizing specialized training programs, and promoting connections between businesses through trade promotion activities, etc. 

"Especially, if Vietnamese representative agencies abroad could implement these solutions, the growth rate of the number of Vietnamese SMEs in the 2025-2030 period could be 2.5 times higher than that in the 2014-2024 period," Mr. Nam noted.

Additionally, Mr. Hoang Vinh Long, Chairman of the Vietnam Tea Association, also suggested that Vietnamese missions abroad better support SMEs in their export activities, such as creating information channels for connecting SMEs, assisting businesses in promoting their products, facilitating connections with potential partners, gathering information about importers abroad and providing information about domestic enterprises to facilitate connections between domestic and foreign businesses...

From a business perspective, Mr. Nguyen Duc Hung, General Director of Global Food, expressed a desire that Vietnamese missions abroad should establish effective information channels or form specialized research groups to coordinate and filter information accurately and effectively for SMEs. This would help create a comprehensive, accessible, and constantly updated information system for SMEs to go global.

"When participating in export activities, competition is not only at the business level but also at the national one. I hope that Vietnamese missions abroad will provide focused, transparent, and practical support for SMEs like us to enhance product value and achieve the highest efficiency," Mr. Hung shared.