In the morning of May 22nd 2020, Handicraft Export Association Vietcraft and The Asia Foundation, together with Vietnam Pepper Association (VPA) and Vietnam Coffee – Cocoa Association (VICOFA), held a conference to kick off the project: “Supporting goods traceability and export development” in Buon Ma Thuot city, Dak Lak under the sponsorship of Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Australia).

The conference was considered as a premise to select qualified businesses participating in the project. It welcomed more than 80 delegates and representatives from businesses, pepper - coffee cooperatives and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Dak Lak and Gia Lai. The project will be implemented within 2020-2021, including 5 groups of products which are ceramics, wicker goods, coffee, pepper and mangoes.

Though the concept is not new in Vietnam, this has always been a hot topic as it is considered an inevitable trend when people are raising concerns about counterfeit goods and poor quality products. To businesses, product traceability is not only the solution to reinforce their reputation but also helps to increase the competiveness of the products. The operation of “Supporting goods traceability and export development” is promisisng as the participated businesses receive fees to join fairs and networks besides the training costs, related documents and softwares. This benefit has partly reduced the businesses’ concerns of costs and outputs for traceability products before joining the project.