Unido and Hawa to develop SME cluster

VNBusinessNews.com - Unido (United Nations Industrial Development Organization) and the Italian Embassy are cooperating with Hawa (Handicraft and Wood Industry Association of HCMC) on a project to develop an SME (small and medium enterprise) cluster in the wood industry, Tran Quoc Manh, Hawa vice chairman, told the Daily.

The project belongs to a master project worth three million euro that was inked by Unido, the Italian government and the Ministry of Planning and Investment in January. The three year project is to develop the capacity of industry associations and SMEs in three pilot industrial sectors in partnership with Italian industry associations and SMEs.

Francesco Russo, chief technical advisor of the project, said the capacity of Hawa’s members in central provinces, HCMC and Binh Duong were being studied to decide the location for the project that would help local SMEs to specialize, cooperate more within their sector and improve competitiveness on local and international markets.

The SME cluster model has proven successful in Italy and the project managers now want to apply it in Vietnam, Russo added.