NDO/VNA – The Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (Vietrade) and Alibaba.com, the global business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce platform of the Alibaba Group, have jointly launched a programme to support Vietnamese small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in overcoming COVID-19.

The programme aims to provide domestic SMEs with knowledge and solutions from Vietnamese and foreign experts in digitalisation, while inspiring them with practical experience and successful stories in digital transformation.

Vietrade Deputy Director Hoang Minh Chien said that his agency has worked with e-commerce platforms to implement trade promotion activities on digital platforms, including collaboration with Alibaba.com in training activities.
He said that the activities have received strong support from State management agencies and Vietnamese trade offices abroad, as well as domestic and foreign trade promotion agencies, localities and businesses, helping form a relatively complete ecosystem in the field.

The programme is part of Vietrade's efforts to speed up the application of IT and digital transformation in enhancing efficiency of e-commerce activities of Vietnamese firms, he added.

During the programme, SMEs will receive information on e-commerce policies and training as well as market data analysis from Alibaba.com, along with solutions exclusively designed for Vietnamese businesses.

Roger Lou, Alibaba.com Country Manager in Vietnam, said that e-commerce is a cost-saving and effective measure for enterprises to expand new sale channels and maintain revenue.

Noting that the consumption of major markets such as the EU and the US has recovered and risen again, he held that this is a good chance for Vietnamese businesses to gain direct access to their promising customers abroad through Alibaba.com.

The online programme is also a new step forward in cooperation between Alibaba.com and Vietrade with an aim to support SMEs to regain their business advantages, he said, adding that it will give detailed guidelines for engaging firms in all five support packages.

Businesses interested in the programme can register to join it through the website https://seller.alibaba.com/pages/vietrade.