Vietnam Traditional craft – Promoting traditional craft villages
A conference to promote and seek markets for craft village products was jointly held in October by the Vietnam Craft Village Association (VCVA) and the Dong Nai Provincial Department of Industry and Trade. Vietnam now has nearly 3,000 craft villages producing a wide range of handicrafts including pottery, lacquerware, and wood and stone carvings.
The VCVA said Vietnamese handicrafts are exported to 160 countries around the world, earning a total revenue of US$3 billion so far in 2011. Many craft villages also attract a large number of tourists, which contributes significantly to local socioeconomic development. Participants at the conference agreed that craft villages now face fierce competition from industrial products, unstable markets, and a lack of skilled workers and capital for further investment. Residents of craft villages should restructure the village, do more market research and work closely with their customers to adapt their product designs and iron out snags in production. The State should also create preferential policies to support craft villages such as holding training courses for local people.
