Solutions sought for sustainable craft village

 The Vietnam Cooperative Alliance (VCA) held a talk on solutions to develop cooperatives and traditional craft villages, in Hanoi on December 3, within the framework of an international fair on cooperatives and SMEs.
VCA Vice President Nguyen Xuan Hien emphasised the need to create a bridge between cooperatives, traditional craft villages and enterprises to develop the market, create jobs for millions of rural workers and enhance social stability.
Hien went on to say that developing the cooperatives is vital for resolving the contradictions between small-and large-scale production and meeting the requirements of the national industrialisation process.
He took the occasion to stress the important role of the growth of the cooperative economy in socio-economic development as 70 percent of the national population is living in rural areas.
For his part, Head of the Xuan Loc Cooperative Nguyen Ngoc Thanh said that it is necessary to unite farmers, enterprises, scientists and the State to ensure the market for agricultural products and the sustainable development of production and create more jobs for farmers. Cooperatives also need State capital, technology and land for production, Thanh added.
According to Head of the Hanoi-based Song Cuong Cooperative Nguyen Van Cuong, cooperatives and businesses can count on the sustainable demand in the domestic market - with 80 million consumers - making them less dependent on exports. To compete with foreign products, Cuong affirmed the importance of cooperation among businesses and craft villages to create a goods distribution network.
The nation is now home to more than 18,290 cooperatives, 50 communal cooperative alliances, 360,000 cooperative groups and almost 1,500 craft villages. They specialise in agro-forestry, fisheries, foodstuffs technology, construction, and handicrafts industry.