Hanoi (VNA) – The VietnamTrade Promotion Agency (Vietrade) and Alibaba.com, the globalbusiness-to-business (B2B) e-commerce platform of the Alibaba Group, signed amemorandum of understanding (MoU) on supporting Vietnamese firms to boostonline export and organised an international e-commerce conference in Hanoi onMarch 16.

Under the MoU, Alibaba.compledged to provide technical assistance in digital transformation for tradepromotion organisations and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) ofVietnam.

Meanwhile, Vietrade, an agencyunder the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), is committed to working withAlibaba.com to improve the digital transformation and e-commerce capacity ofthe targeted groups. They are set to continue organising a series of capacitybuilding events to benefit more than 1,200 businesses nationwide in the nextthree years.

Besides, long-term cooperationplans related to digital transformation, business brand and product trademark building,awareness improvement, and advice provision for firms to operate on Alibaba.comwill also be made and implemented concertedly.

Addressing the e-commerceconference - the first big event of Alibaba.com in Vietnam, Deputy Minister ofIndustry and Trade Do Thang Hai said e-commerce in Vietnam grew 18 percent in 2020to reach 11.8 billion USD. Though the expansion was slower than forecast,Vietnam was still the only Southeast Asian nation to post a double-digit growthrate in e-commerce.

As the COVID-19 pandemic hasseriously hampered global trading and supply chains, the MoIT has directedVietrade to adjust many activities to the reality, including stepping up onlinetrade promotion to help enterprises fuel export.

Hai held that Alibaba.com,one of the world’s leading e-commerce platforms, is a potential market forVietnamese businesses to boost sales to customers around the world.

Therefore, cooperating withsuch big partners as Alibaba.com to carry out trade promotion and export supportingsolutions will bring about more chances for local firms to expand in foreignmarkets, he said.

The official added the MoIT welcomed Alibaba.com’s decision to set up an office with Vietnamesestaff in the country, which, he said, reflects the company’s strong and long-termcommitment here.

Zhang Kuo, General Manager ofAlibaba.com, said the firm has continually developed partnerships withassociations, business partners, and banks with a view to helping SMEs ofVietnam improve their digital capacity and operating, customer managing andorder fulfilling skills.

Via the cooperation withpartners in Vietnam and the world, Alibaba.com looks to achieve over 100billion USD in gross merchandise value by 2024, assist more than 10 millionSMEs around the globe, and have over 10,000 suppliers from Vietnam involved inB2B e-commerce activities on Alibaba.com.

With the commitment tosupporting 10,000 SMEs of Vietnam in five years and promoting digitaltransformation, Alibaba.com will keep cooperating closely with localauthorities to provide suitable and effective online services and solutions, headded./.