More than 100 Vietnamese businesses have joined the ongoing ‘Vietnamese Week in Thailand 2023,’ a move further bringing more Vietnamese goods to retail distribution systems in Thailand.

The annual event, jointly hosted by Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade and Thailand-based Central Retail Corporation (CRC), kicked off at Central World in Bangkok on Wednesday.

Among the participants in the opening ceremony were Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce Jurin Laksanawisit, Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai, and Vietnamese Ambassador to Thailand Phan Chi Thanh.

The event highlights culture, tourism, and specialties from Vietnam’s Mekong Delta region and Ho Chi Minh City as well as OCOP (One Commune, One Product) goods from other Vietnamese provinces.

With the participation of over 100 Vietnamese enterprises, the ‘Vietnamese Week in Thailand 2023’ has attracted the highest number of participants since it was first held in 2016.

They are showcasing their diverse products and specialties on an area of around 1,000 square meters, highlighting ‘the Magical Taste of Vietnam’ – the theme of the event. 

Olivier Langlet, CEO of Central Retail Vietnam, part of CRC, commented that Ho Chi Minh City is the economic locomotive of the country while the Mekong Delta region has abundant raw materials and possesses the world’s leading export processing capacity.

All these features help make a difference for goods exported from the city and other localities in the region, Langlet said.

This year, the packaging and design of Vietnamese goods are more eye-catching than those in previous years and they suit international taste, remarked Paul Le, vice-president of the import export division at Central Retail Vietnam.

Within the event's framework, a seminar for connecting supply and demand between Vietnamese and Thai enterprises took place on Thursday, opening opportunities for Vietnamese retailers to further expand their market shares in Thailand.

This is an opportunity for Vietnamese enterprises to directly receive feedback from consumers and import partners in Thailand so as to re-align their products to make them more suitable for modern Thai retail channels, Le stated.  

To date, Central Retail’s supermarket chains in Thailand have been selling many commodities shipped from Vietnam, including King Coffee instant coffee, Trung Nguyen coffee, Bibica snacks, Acecook and Vifon instant noodles, Hai Binh wood-roasted cashews, and Daiviet instant porridge, among others, he added.

Speaking at the ceremony, Deputy Minister Hai commented that the ‘Vietnamese Week in Thailand 2023,’ which runs until Sunday, will contribute to promoting trade between the two countries.

Thai Deputy PM Laksanawisit highly valued the event as a good chance to strengthen cooperation in trade, investment, and tourism between Vietnam and Thailand.

The two countries have a close and robust relationship in ASEAN and have set a common target to bring bilateral trade turnover to at least US$25 billion by 2025, Laksanawisit said.

Thailand is currently Vietnam’s largest trade partner in the ASEAN region, while Vietnam is Thailand’s second-biggest trade partner in the same region.