Develop mango trade in Mekong Delta urban areas

Being a land full of potential, the opportunity for Mekong Delta urban areas to develop the frozen mango industry exporting to Canada is wide open.

Canadian experts in Vietnam appraising mango trees. Photo: TL.

The Partnerships for Municipal Innovation in Local Economic Development Program (PMI LED) in Vietnam has been implemented by the Association of Cities of Vietnam (ACVN) in the 2016 – 2021 period with the support of Global Affairs Canada (GAC).

Having received technical support of the Canadian partners, the Association of Cities of Vietnam has cooperated with the cities of Cao Lanh, Can Tho, Sa Dec, Hong Ngu, and Chau Doc to implement projects on improving the association's capacity, promoting trade, making full use of the strengths in agro-product production and processing, especially focusing on the frozen mango export industry.

Within the framework of the PMI LED Program, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) and the Cao Lanh People's Committee agreed to hold an online workshop to disseminate results from the cooperative project on the exportation of mango and agro-products in general to the Canadian market, and the restoration and sustainable development of agriculture in the Mekong Delta after the Covid-19 epidemic.

The key contents of the workshop include:

Share project results and disseminate to stakeholders about the Cao Lanh mango exportation model under the PMI LED Program towards the Canadian market with member cities of the Association of Cities of Vietnam;

Assess the contributions of sustainable agricultural development along the market value chain to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Mekong Delta cities, including the goals of creating jobs in the localities as well as expanding partnership cooperation for local economic development;

Provide a direction to maintain the long-established partnership cooperation between the cities of Vietnam and Canada developed under the PMI LED Program.

The workshop will also focus on discussing the role of stakeholders in promoting trade development for the advantageous agro-product industries of the Mekong Delta urban areas and what the urban government needs to do to apply the mango trade development planning model to other agricultural production sectors with the orientation of sustainability.

In order to create linkages and promote trade in developed areas, the Partnerships for Municipal Innovation in Local Economic Development Program Program has organized business trips and brought Canadian experts from the cities of Edmonton and Rossland to survey and work with five cities (Can Tho, Cao Lanh, Sa Dec, Hong Ngu, Chau Doc) to assist in identifying priorities and understanding the strengths of each area, thereby developing a regional trade promotion plan.

Canadian experts and representatives of cities have reached a conclusion that mango should be given priority in development and have formed a trade promotion plan for this product.

The program also organized a business trip for representatives of Can Tho and Cao Lanh cities to visit Edmonton and Vancouver cities (Canada) to learn from the Canadian partners’ experiences in regional economic development, trade promotion, and connection of mango export partners.

Up to the present date, the program has supported connecting five frozen mango exporters in the Mekong Delta with four Canadian importers.