Decision 415/QD-TTg 2022 encouraging Vietnamese enterprises to directly join in foreign distribution networks

DECISION

Approving the Scheme on encouraging Vietnamese enterprises to directly join in foreign distribution networks through 2030^[1]

THE PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the June 19, 2015 Law on Organization of the Government; and the November 22, 2019 Law Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on Organization of the Government and the Law on Organization of Local Administration;

Pursuant to the June 12, 2017 Law on Foreign Trade Management;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 98/2017/ND-CP of August 18, 2017, defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Industry and Trade;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 28/2018/ND-CP of March 1, 2018, detailing the Law on Foreign Trade Management regarding a number of measures for foreign trade development;

Pursuant to the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 493/QD-TTg of April 19, 2022, approving the Strategy on goods import and export through 2030;

At the proposal of the Minister of Industry and Trade,

DECIDES:

Article 1. To approve the Scheme on encouraging Vietnamese enterprises to directly join in foreign distribution networks through 2030 (below referred to as the Scheme) with the following major contents:

I. OBJECTIVES

1. General objectives

a/ To develop import and export markets, ensuring sustainable growth in the long term;

b/ To encourage Vietnamese enterprises to strongly participate in global chains of goods production, supply and distribution, and directly export their goods to foreign distribution networks on the basis of promoting the strengths and optimizing the competitive advantage of Vietnamese exports;

c/ To build up a close strategic cooperation relationship between Vietnam’s production and export enterprises and foreign distribution networks on traditional export channels and e-commerce channels, striving to develop a stable and sustainable production-export-distribution model;

d/ To contribute to changing the ways of thinking and organization of production toward a methodical and sustainable approach, thereby enhancing enterprises’ competitiveness in the long run; to attract domestic and foreign investment sources in clean, green  and sustainable production, and processing of high-quality exports, bringing high added value to Vietnamese exports; to build the image of Vietnam as a prestigious country capable of supplying goods in large quantities, ensuring quality standards.

2. Specific objectives

a/ To provide market information to 20,000 turns of enterprises;

b/ To provide training and consultancy for 15,000 turns of enterprises to raise their competitiveness and supply capacity to step by step participate in the global value chain;

c/ To assist 5,000 turns of enterprises in building capacity for participating in cross-border e-commerce activities;

d/ To organize 10,000 turns of trade connections and exchanges with foreign distribution networks;

dd/ To provide support for more than 10,000 products to be directly exported to foreign distribution networks;

e/ To strive for the target that by 2030, Vietnamese goods will appear in traditional and online distribution chains of all countries that have concluded foreign trade agreements (FTAs) with Vietnam.

II. TASKS AND SOLUTIONS

1. Providing enterprises with information market

a/ To regularly update information on the demands and development trends of international markets and global supply chains;

b/ To provide information on, and disseminate policies of, distributors to domestic producers and exporters for them to timely grasp information and make appropriate adjustments so as to meet the criteria and requirements for becoming suppliers for foreign distribution chains;

c/ To coordinate with foreign distribution corporations in compiling and updating sets of documents on the process of selection of products and suppliers, as well as technical standards applicable to exported products, with a view to guiding Vietnamese producers and exporters to apply production processes according to international technical regulations and standards so as to supply goods meeting quality requirements of foreign distribution networks;

d/ To develop a network of export consultants to assist Vietnamese enterprises in information exchange and search, and provide them with direct consultancy and guidance from experts specialized in market, export, marketing, and brand building;

dd/ To build, maintain and develop a system of online databases on commodities and enterprises in supply chains:

- To coordinate with localities and trade associations in building databases of Vietnam’s commodities and enterprises;

- To coordinate with overseas Vietnamese trade offices and trade promotion bureaus and foreign enterprise associations in Vietnam in building a database on foreign commodities and distribution enterprises;

- To develop tools for exploitation, analysis and sharing of databases, enabling on-demand information tracing for the purposes of market analysis and enterprise connection.

e/ To maintain the Scheme’s Portal and other digital platform-based information channels as tools for disseminating market information, providing online consultancy to enterprises and accessing enterprises at home and abroad, thus providing information in a complete and regular manner and creating an effective forum for connecting export enterprises and foreign distribution corporations.

2. Assisting enterprises in building supply capacity in service of foreign markets

a/ To provide training and support to enterprises for raising product research and development capacity in conformity with market demands and requirements of distribution networks;

b/ To support enterprises in improving production organization capacity, productivity, and product quality so as to meet requirements, regulations and quality standards of foreign distribution networks via programs on training and provision of information and guidance for enterprises to apply management systems and productivity and quality improvement tools, especially tools in support of smart production and smart services;

c/ To support enterprises in improving their self-sufficiency for material sources for production and supply to foreign distribution networks in the forms suitable to reality;

d/ To provide support to improve enterprises’ governance capability, risk management/control and efficiency against the current difficulties and challenges;

dd/ To develop a network of production consultants to support Vietnamese enterprises in improving research and development capacity; organizing production  toward sustainable development; and applying technologies in production to improve the competitiveness and capacity so as to meet market demands and the requirements of distribution corporations;

e/ To provide training and guidance to enterprises for them to reach requirements of production certificates according to standards of import markets in general and distribution corporations in particular.

3. Supporting enterprises to step by step adapt to, and convert production to catch up with the sustainable consumption trend

a/ To support enterprises in using green-clean material sources: To intensify activities to raise enterprises’ sense of self-sufficiency for material sources to reduce dependence on imported materials and proactively develop green and clean material sources to heighten the value and competitiveness of products in the global value chain;

b/ To promote energy conversion and conservation during production process: To raise enterprises’ sense in energy conservation and efficiency and application of resource- and energy-efficient, environment-friendly production technologies; to intensify energy conversion by enterprises toward increasing the use of clean and renewable energy in production which, in the future, will be a competitive advantage of commodities exported to developed countries or countries participating in commitments at the COP26 Conference;

c/ To promote the development of models of the circular economy in production: To seek resources to support enterprises in building and developing circular economy models in production (especially in the agro-fisheries sectors) toward reasonable, economical and environment-friendly production processes;

d/ To encourage enterprises to develop supporting industries and processing and manufacturing industries (especially the agro-forestry-fisheries processing sector) and linkage with global supply chains and distribution corporations.

4. Supporting enterprises in capacity building to participate in cross-border e-commerce activities

a/ To intensify activities to raise Vietnamese enterprises’ sense for digital transformation and cross-border e-commerce, especially those engaged in production of farm produce, food, timber products and interiors;

b/ To intensify activities to support Vietnamese enterprises in participating in distribution systems on Vietnam’s and foreign cross-border e-commerce platforms. To coordinate with domestic and foreign cross-border e-commerce corporations in gradually increasing enterprises’ digital transformation abilities and providing training in sales skills (including also marketing, customer services, after-sales services, etc.) in the digital environment, striving to build and consolidate Vietnam’s brands and assist enterprises in improving their competitiveness and effectively participating in global production and supply chains so as to develop markets in a sustainable manner;

c/ To promote the development of logistics services serving the export of goods to distribution firms operating on cross-border e-commerce platforms.

5. Supporting brand building and development

a/ To coordinate with distribution corporations and consultants in supporting localities, associations and enterprises in developing from distributors’ brands to co-brands, and then developing their own brands in the distribution system;

b/ To coordinate with foreign distribution networks in supporting the development of products bearing Vietnamese brands in the distribution systems of cross-border e-commerce platforms;

c/ To support enterprises in registering for protection of their product labels in international market and coordinating with distribution corporations in advertising to increase the position and images of Vietnamese products.

6. Organizing trade connection and exchange activities with foreign distribution networks:

a/ To organize seminars for trade connection and exchange between producers and exporters and foreign distributors;

b/ To organize “Vietnamese Goods Week” programs in foreign distribution networks; to support domestic enterprises in displaying and introducing their products under “Vietnamese Goods Week” programs in accordance with law;

c/ To organize overseas market survey trips for domestic producers and exporters for them to grasp market demands and carry out transactions with distributors;

d/ To organize trips for foreign distribution corporations to visit and learn about the production situation of Vietnam’s producers and exporters;

dd/ To organize connection activities with distribution networks owned by overseas Vietnamese entrepreneurs; as well as advertising and marketing activities targeting overseas Vietnamese communities.

7. Organizing communications activities

a/ Conducting communications activities for the purpose of raising the awareness of Vietnamese enterprises:

- To carry out communications about the benefits of participation in the Scheme, contributing to changing the awareness and raising understanding of enterprises about the model of direct participation in foreign distribution networks, considering it an effective export and advertising channel for their products and brands;

- To convey information and guide enterprises about standards for participating in, and procedures for supply of goods to, foreign distribution networks;

- To carry out communications about the Scheme’s activities to support enterprises in directly accessing foreign distributors and consumers;

b/ Conducting communications about experience in bringing goods into foreign distribution networks: Successful models from enterprises that have participated in the Scheme in renovation, creation, market research, production organization, and improvement of product quality to meet international standards and develop services for the sake of customers, thereby increasing direct sales in foreign distribution systems.

c/ Conducting communications about export to foreign buyers:

To carry out communications in foreign countries about the image of Vietnam as a qualitative and prestigious supply source. To make customers understand about the production capacity and product quality of Vietnam’s production sectors and enterprises via export communication activities.

d/ Using multimedia tools and diversifying forms of direct communication and advertising to customers.

8. Formulating mechanisms and policies to encourage foreign enterprises to develop a sustainable procurement strategies with the Vietnam’s market

a/ To encourage and give support to foreign distribution corporations to have commercial presence in Vietnam (opening representative offices, establishing purchasing enterprises, etc.), and coordinate in bringing Vietnam’s exports into their distribution networks in foreign countries, especially goods bearing Vietnamese brands;

b/ To encourage and support multi-national distribution corporations already present in Vietnam to associate and coordinate with domestic production establishments and enterprises in developing product sources for the former’s global distribution networks, to turn Vietnam into a regional supply center;

c/ To promote the conclusion of agreements to establish cooperation frameworks with foreign distribution corporations with specific action programs.

9. To study for formulating mechanisms and policies to encourage Vietnamese enterprises to proactively develop distribution agency systems in foreign markets for bringing their goods into foreign distribution networks.

10. Other tasks

To take advantage of FTAs which are currently in force between Vietnam and other partners; to negotiate and boost the opening of foreign markets for agro-fisheries commodity items  in which Vietnam has advantages, thus creating a premise for bringing Vietnamese products into foreign distribution systems.

Article 2. Funds for implementation

Funds for implementation of the Scheme shall be allocated from the central budget and local budgets according to current regulations on state budget decentralization as provided in the 2015 Law on the State Budget; from contributions and donations of domestic and foreign individuals and organizations; and from other lawful sources (if any) in accordance with law.

Article 3. Organization of implementation

1. The Ministry of Industry and Trade shall

a/ Assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with ministries, sectors, localities, trade associations, and enterprises in, based on their assigned functions and tasks, performing the tasks and implementing the solutions stated in the Scheme;

b/ Organize communications about and disseminate the Scheme to localities, associations and enterprises, and direct and urge the implementation thereof;

c/ Further direct overseas trade offices and trade promotion bureaus to support enterprises in connecting with, and directly exporting goods to, foreign distribution networks;

d/ Assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with related ministries and sectors in, organizing the mid-term review and evaluation of implementation of the Scheme at the end of 2025 for reporting to the Prime Minister for appropriate amendments in the following period; and conduct the evaluation and final review of implementation of the Scheme at the end of 2030.

2. The Ministry of Finance shall submit to competent authorities plans on allocation of funds from the annual state budget source to ministries and central agencies for performance of tasks under the Scheme in accordance with the Law on the State Budget and relevant laws.

3. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shall negotiate and boost the opening of foreign markets for agro-fisheries commodity items in which Vietnam has advantages so as to create a premise for bringing Vietnam’s products into foreign distribution systems.

4. For ministries, sectors and localities:

a/ Based on the tasks and solutions stated in the Scheme, ministries, sectors, localities and related agencies shall, based on their scope of management as decentralized, formulate plans to implement the Scheme, and annually sum up the implementation results for reporting to the Ministry of Industry and Trade for summarization.

Ministries and sectors shall estimate funds for implementation of activities under the Scheme and include them in their annual budget estimates for submission to the Ministry of Finance. Localities shall proactively allocate funds from their local budgets and other lawful sources in accordance with the current law.

b/ To summarize information on difficulties and obstacles facing enterprises operating in different industries and, on that basis, propose support policies and solutions for timely settlement;

c/ To take the initiative in reviewing, amending and supplementing mechanisms and policies in the fields and areas under their management to encourage and create favorable conditions for Vietnamese enterprises to directly export to foreign distribution networks;

d/ To actively coordinate with, and create favorable conditions for, distribution firms to develop their supply systems in Vietnam;

dd/ To compile brochures to introduce commodity items in which localities have advantages and  prestigious enterprises so as to attract distribution firms to develop supply systems in their localities or procure local products.

5. Enterprise associations and trade associations shall:

a/ Coordinate with the Ministry of Industry and Trade in selecting enterprises which are suitable with the objectives and requirements of foreign distribution networks so as to formulate support plans;

b/ Summarize information on arising difficulties and obstacles, and propose  policies and solutions to competent authorities;

c/ Provide and update figures on enterprises’ direct export to foreign distribution networks.

Article 4. This Decision takes effect on the date of its signing.

Article 5. Ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, heads of government-attached agencies, chairpersons of provincial-level People’s Committees, and related organizations, units and individuals shall implement this Decision.-

For the Prime Minister
Deputy Prime Minister
LE VAN THANH