The International Trade Centre (ITC) will continue working with Vietnam to improve the competitiveness of its enterprises during their integration into international trade, affirmed ITC Executive Director Arancha González.

She recently granted an interview to Vietnam News Agency correspondents in Geneva, Switzerland ahead of her working visit to Hanoi to attend the regional seminar for East and South East Asia from February 26-28.

She said that international trade agreements that Vietnam has signed with its partners have brought more opportunities for Vietnam’s businesses.

Therefore, it is necessary to help them improve their international competitiveness, she stated, emphasising the importance of a favourable business environment with minimum barriers facing enterprises and strong mechanisms facilitating exporters.

ITC has cooperated with the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Trade Promotion Agency (Vietrade) in many projects to support small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) during the international integration, she added.

The ITC leader also advised Vietnamese enterprises to pay attention to improving their product quality, packaging and label so as to meet requirements of such choosy markets as the European Union, Japan and the Republic of Korea.

Established in 1964, the International Trade Centre is the joint agency of the World Trade Organisation and the United Nations. It is the only development agency that is fully dedicated to supporting the internationalisation of SMEs.

The centre is cooperating with Vietrade in a project to support six trade associations and nine provincial trade promotion centres in the fields of fisheries, agriculture and handicrafts.

The regional seminar for East and South East Asia will focus discussion on regional and world strategic issues, aiming to strengthen connectivity and cooperation in the region with new and existing partners.

The event will draw the participation of Chief Representatives of the EU Delegations to Asian nations, representatives from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the UN Development Programme, and the UN Women, and leaders of Vietnamese ministries.-VNA