Production and business capacity within SMEs in Vietnam will be bolstered by the second part of an initiative introduced by the country’s Agency for Enterprise Development (AED) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI).

The scheme is part of a project aimed at boosting SME Promotion and Industrial Development to increase production capacity for Vietnamese enterprises, sponsored by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

In addition, the programme will ease the connection between Vietnamese SMEs and Japanese businesses, Vietnam Plus reports.

Improving production and business capacity for SMEs is one of the key ways Vietnam can enhance the quality of the economy and progress towards a modern industrialised economy by 2030, says AED deputy director Bui Thu Thuy.

There are three parts to the initiative, and this second stage is aimed at boosting the production and business capacity of SMEs in the country and forging greater associations with top Japanese organisations.

Despite the pandemic-related disruption, a set of standards have been established to assess enterprises, and 15 SMEs have been chosen to receive support to boost production capacity for around a year, the report adds. Furthermore, a number of these enterprises had penned supply contracts with Japanese firms.

The AED deputy director added that the project should continue to provide additional support to a larger number of companies and believes SMEs will boost their production and business capacity to be able to be part of global supply chains.

According to the project’s chief adviser, Yashiro Hiroaki, businesses in the country are expected to apply the suggested methods, particularly the Japanese business model, to make a greater contribution to Vietnam’s socio-economic development.