Hanoi (VNA) - The application of information technology (IT) is acrucial tool to enhance trade promotion activities nationwide by strengtheninginformation exchange between trade organisations, officials said during aseminar held in Hanoi on September 20.

The seminar gathered comments on a draft plan by the Ministry of Industry andTrade (MoIT) to apply IT to connect the national trade promotion informationnetwork.

Pham Viet Duc, Director of Viettrade’s Centre for Information TechnologyApplication For Trade Promotion, said under the  scheme, a portal will beset up to link all the websites of trade promotion agencies nationwide,gathering all of their databases and connecting all users through a consistentsystem.

The current information network of trade promotion groups and businesses is“scattered, overlapping and inconsistent,” said Doan Thi Thu Thuy, DeputyDirector of the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (Viettrade), under the MoIT.

The move, according to Thuy, will unify information dissemination between tradepromotion agencies and the business community, helping them manage, update andexploit the latest information on trade promotion, quickly seize businessopportunities and develop their markets.

Beneficiaries of the system would include trade promotion agencies at thecentral and local levels, Vietnamese trade offices in foreign countries,business associations, organisations and individuals who wish to connect to thesystem, Duc said.

[Gover✃nment bodies need to promote IT application: Deputy PM]

“This helps transmit a large volume of information at a higher speed but alower cost, and in a comprehensive and synchronous manner,” he added.

Duc said if the scheme is approved by the government, it is expected that by2020, 100 percent of domestic enterprises, organisations and individuals andforeign traders can be connected to the system and directly exchangeinformation and seek co-operation opportunities and partners.

They can also access and exploit sources of accurate and official informationon Vietnam’s trade promotion activities.

In addition to the advantages brought about by the portal, there were also somelimitations, Duc said.

“As the portal will have to gather a lot of databases and link a number ofwebsites with different Internet addresses to serve various users, itsoperation system will sometimes face situations like overloaded access orinterrupted transmission,” he said.

Staff that are in charge of the portal’s operation will have to be well-trainedas they must be responsible for conducting multiple tasks, including managingthe content of information and controlling users’ activities and interactionson the portal, he added.-VNA