Ho Chi Minh City’s government expects that more trade promotion activities and specialized exhibitions, especially on supporting industries, will help the city improve its supporting industries, thus accelerating the modernization and industrialization process, said a senior official of the HCMC People’s Committee.

Such trade promotion activities and specialized exhibitions will improve both the supply and demand sides as industrial suppliers and producers can meet with each other to exchange information, which will result in more business opportunities as more deals can be realized after that, said Tat Thanh Cang, vice chairman of HCMC People’s Committee at the opening ceremony of a specialized exhibition for supporting industries on Thursday.

 In addition, it will help improve the localization rate for Vietnamese-made industrial products, he said at "METALEX Vietnam 2014" - Vietnam's International Exhibition on Machine Tools and Metalworking Technologies for Production Upgrade, organized by Thailand-based Reed Tradex at Saigon Exhibition and Convention Center in HCMC’s District 7.

METALEX Vietnam 2014, which closed on Saturday, was also joined by Soichi Yoshimura, Deputy Executive Director of JETRO, Nguyen Tuan, deputy director of HCMC Investment and Trade Promotion Center and Mr. Duangdej Yuaikwarmdee, Deputy Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Reed Tradex’ subsidiary in Vietnam.

The event was also co-located with three other exhibitions - “Industrial Components & Subcontracting Vietnam 2014”, "NEPCON Vietnam 2014”, and Business Alliance for Supporting Industry 2014.

 While the “Industrial Components & Subcontracting Vietnam” aims to offer a venue for local sellers to meet the buyers of parts and components or future subcontractors in Vietnam, the NEPCON Vietnam is Vietnam’s only exhibition on testing technologies, equipment, and supporting industries for electronics manufacturing.

Business Alliance for Supporting Industry 2014, organized by the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) in HCM City and the HCMC Investment and Trade Promotion Center (ITPC), offers a platform for Vietnamese parts producers to meet with Japanese producers for business opportunities right at home.

Duangdej Yuaikwarmdee, Deputy Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Reed Tradex Vietnam Co Ltd, said the challenges for the local supporting industries now are technologies and expertise. The good news is that the local government is putting emphasis on supporting industries.

As a result, to support Vietnam’s supporting industries, the four exhibitions bring more than 10,000 manufacturers across Vietnam and many countries with new technologies, including 500 global brands of machine tools and metal working technologies, 200 top brands for electronics manufacturing.

Moreover, there are 9 international pavilions including Germany, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, and Singapore, 104 Japanese companies and Vietnam ones attending Business Alliance for Supporting Industry 2014 focusing on five main areas of support industries including mold stamping, molding, electrical and electronic parts, engine parts and metal processing, heat treatment and surface treatment.

To achieve high export growth and sustainability in the coming period, the city already has the export-oriented development with viable solutions to rapidly shifting export structure consistent with that strength of the city, said Nguyen Tuan, deputy head of ITPC.

Four industries comprising food processing , chemicals - rubber, mechanical and electrical, information technology are the 4 major sectors that city will continue to focus on for development in the future, he said.

With the 2020 goal, the local products has a high technological content and will not only meet domestic demand but also foreign demand, thus raising  the export of high-added value items, especially in industries such as shipbuilding and automobiles, motorcycles, precision engineering, and mechanical engineering, Tuan added.

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