Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnamese products have greatopportunities to reach foreign markets thanks to global online distributorssuch as Amazon and Alibaba.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, about 200Vietnamese firms have sold products on online trading site Amazon. Meanwhile,about 1,000 others are partnering with Alibaba.com – a world leading e-commerceplatform focusing on business-to-business activities.

Through Alibaba, Vietnamese products can reach 260 millioncustomer companies from 240 countries and territories worldwide.

According to Pham Dat, General Director of Fado Vietnam, thebiggest markets of Alibaba are the US and the EU.

Vietnam and the Chinese firmsigned a cooperation agreement on March 14 in Ho Chi Minh City to launch a newtrading channel supporting Vietnamese firms, especially small- and medium-sizedenterprises (SMEs).

Dat said cooperation with Alibaba will enhance VietnameseSMEs’ capacity to seek foreign partners.

Fado Vietnam and Alibaba will focus on promoting strong Vietnameseproducts such as wooden furniture, footwear, foodstuff and beverages.

At the same time, joining the Amazon Global Sellingprogramme will help Vietnamese firms reach more than 300 million buyers and getmore chance to export their products to the world.

Amazon now covers 185 countries, along with more than 175fulfillment centres supporting the delivery of products to different countries.

Amazon commented that Vietnam is strong in householdappliances, garment, footwear and leather and handicraft, which are easily soldon Amazon. Vietnam also has a large community of youngsters with high capacity fore-commerce and online trading.

It advised Vietnamese firms to improve their foreignlanguage skills and trademark building capacity, while paying greater attentionto products’ origin and quality to be successful in global e-commerceplatforms.

Nguyen Ngoc Dung, Vice President of the Vietnam E-CommerceAssociation (Vecom), said if a company is qualified to sell its products onAmazon, customers tend to search for its products on Alibaba also.

Stressing that cross-border e-commerce is becoming animportant channel for businesses in export, he said that Vecom will strengthenpromotion and training activities to get products of traditional craft villagesavailable online.

In 2019, the Ministries of Industry and Trade plans toorganise programmes to support businesses to enhance export capacity in onlineretailing and provide them with information on export opportunities.

Besides, the ministry will guide enterprises to improvetheir products’ designs and complete administrative procedures for exporting.-VNA