The western area of Nghe An has a natural area of 13,728.97km2, accounting for 83.3% of the province's area. There are 11 district-level administrative units, 211 commune-level administrative units, including 27 border communes with 468,281km of border with Laos.

There are 5 border gates in the region, namely Nam Can International Border Gate in Ky Son district, Thanh Thuy National Border Gate in Thanh Chuong district; 3 additional border gates of Thong Thu in Que Phong district, Tam Hop in Tuong Duong district, Cao Veu in Anh Son district; and 4 national highways connecting the East-West economic corridor and the Ho Chi Minh Highway, facilitating transportation with Laos, Northeast Thailand and other countries in the region.

The region's population is 1.237 million people (accounting for 36.28% of the Nghe An province's population), including 410,000 ethnic minorities, making up 38.4% of the population of the region. Major ethnic groups here are Kinh, Thai, Tho, Kho Mu, Mong, Dan Lai, O Du. The people of western Nghe An are industrious, have a unique cultural identity, and have a lot of experience and valuable remedies.

The Western Nghe An Biosphere Reserve stretches over 9 mountainous districts with the core area being Pu Mat National Park and 2 nature reserves of Pu Huong and Pu Hoat, recognized by UNESCO as a world biosphere reserve, the largest in Southeast Asia.

This is an area rich in potential for forest economic development with forestry trees serving wood processing, furniture making...; short-term and long-term industrial crops such as sugarcane, tea, rubber and fruit trees like oranges, tangerines, grapefruits...

Recently, the One Commune One Product (OCOP) program has aroused potential, opening up new directions for the Western region of Nghe An province. In this land, each OCOP product is not a movement but an economic program.

With the goal of bringing OCOP products to customers in a sustainable way, Nghe An always takes quality and brand as a measure. Currently, the province ranks second in the country in terms of starred products (ranked behind Hanoi), affirming its position on the country’s OCOP map.

Nghe An determines to develop the OCOP Program in a sustainable direction, taking product quality and brand as a measure. Many typical models, many good, effective and creative ways of doing things, demonstrating breakthroughs, have contributed to comprehensively raising the level of the province's agricultural industry, transforming the appearance of rural areas to become more and more prosperous.

Currently, Nghe An has 17 OCOP product introduction points, a system of display areas, OCOP product introduction and sales points, including 4 points supported with funding from the state budget, 13 points invested by the subject themselves.

Right from the start of the program, assigned by the Provincial People's Committee, the Nghe An Department of Industry and Trade conducted a survey to understand the market of OCOP products, thereby coordinating with relevant agencies to propose suitable solutions.

Nghe An determined to find markets for OCOP products, from which trade promotion activities have received special attention from all levels, branches and local authorities. In many ways, through consulting from the Department of Industry and Trade of Nghe An, OCOP producers have completed administrative procedures to connect to supermarkets and retail chains; proactively promoted the application of digital technology in communications, promoting e-commerce development for OCOP products via e-commerce platforms.

Products with OCOP stars are considered as brand identifiers that are very convenient for businesses when selling and exporting their products. Promoting the achieved results, Nghe An province is developing the project "One commune, one product program in Nghe An for the period 2023-2025".

Accordingly, by 2025, Nghe An strives to have at least 650 OCOP products recognized with 3 stars or more, including at least four products with 5 stars; consolidate and upgrade at least 30% of OCOP products that have been evaluated and classified, equivalent to 134 products; prioritize the development of OCOP products associated with the product brand.

Along with that, Nghe An will focus on developing cooperatives and small and medium-sized enterprises, striving to have at least 30% of OCOP subjects being cooperatives, 30% of subjects being small and medium-sized enterprises; at least 5% of traditional craft villages having OCOP products, contributing to the preservation and development of traditional craft villages in the province.

At the same time, the province aims to have at least 20% of trained workers with appropriate degrees and certificates working at OCOP entities; at least 50% of OCOP entities participating in modern sales channels such as supermarkets, convenience stores, e-commerce trading floors; each district-level unit has a point to introduce and sell OCOP products...

The Provincial People's Committee has asked departments, branches and agencies to soon supplement relevant policies to complete the project "One commune, one product program in Nghe An for the period 2023-2025". In the coming time, departments, branches and localities will continue close coordination during the implementation. Particularly, upgrading the star rating of OCOP products and improving product quality is more important than increasing the number of OCOP products.

PV