The Viet Nam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) is searching different ways to help its members increase their competitiveness in local and international markets for the 2010-15 period. It says seafood sector must fish fro opportunities. To promote Vietnamese brands, VASEP and the National Trademark Council have created trademarks for key exports such as shrimp, tra catfish and tuna.
Nguyen Thi Thu Sac, deputy head of VASEP, opines that strict international standards required an improvement in quality of seafood exports. The association is helping seafood companies in a variety of ways, including giving assistance in the use of data-capture technologies like linear barcodes, 2-D barcodes and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), which help to guarantee the quality of seafood.
In collaboration with the Shrimp Committee and the provincial People’s Committees, VASEP has also encouraged farmers to stop injecting impure substances into their shrimp in an aim to improve quality. VASEP and the National Trademark Council have created trademarks for key exports to promote Vietnamese brand. VASEP is also encouraging businesses to increase competitiveness by working together more closely and or engaging in mergers and acquisitions.
According to VASEP companies must improve human resource training and apply advanced technology to improve production and quality. At the congress, the association noted that in the past five-year period, VASEP had participated in the Global Shrimp Outlook conference in 2005 and the Aquavision Conference in Norway in 2006 and 2008.
