A delegation of Ha Noi's textile, garment, leather and footwear enterprises joined an international fashion fair in Brno, the Czech Republic, starting on Saturday and continuing until today, as well as a seminar held by the Ha Noi Industry and Trade Department and Industry Czech Republic before the fair as they hoped to find more business opportunities in the textile, garment and footwear industries in Eastern European countries.

The seminar was organized to encourage trade between Ha Noi and the Czech Republic held in Prague last Thursday. Le Hong Thang, director of the Ha Noi Industry and Trade Department, said that last year Ha Noi's garment and textile export values reached US$1.6 billion, including $436 million from the European Union market.

They expected to find more importers for their products at the European market, including the Eastern European region, and also partners providing materials for the textile, garment, leather and footwear sectors of Ha Noi, he said.

The return to traditional export markets in the Eastern European region for Vietnam enterprises would bring interest in development and business for the companies of the two countries, Thang added.

Last year, Ha Noi's enterprises spent $662.5 million to import cloth, $125.6 million for fibre imports and $196 million for sub-materials.

Chairman of the Czech-Viet Nam Friendship Association, Marcel Winter, said that Czech enterprises lacked information about Viet Nam's economy as well as enterprises, reported Vietnam News Agency.

Winter said that Vietnam’s economy has gained strong growth in recent years and now has great potential in developing further. Vietnamese enterprises have products with good quality for Czech customers, while they need imports of high-quality equipment and machines from Czech Republic.

At the seminar, which brought together 70 companies from the two countries, Pham Ngoc Diep, deputy general director of the Dong Xuan Knitting Company, said that in the past the Eastern European market had provided key export markets for her company, but later the company faced difficulties in exporting its products.

So Dong Xuan must change to develop export activities to Japan and to be successful in the new market, said Diep, adding that now the company plans to return to the Eastern European market for its sustainable development in the future.

Livse Safrankova, director of Libka Safr Fashion Company, one of 50 Czech enterprises at the seminar, said her company had cooperated with Elise Fashion Company of Ha Noi. The cooperation with Vietnamese partners was expected to bring profits and advantages in competitiveness to the company, Safrankova said.

According to Viet Nam's General Department of Customs, Vietnam gained a year-on-year growth in export values of textile and garments of 10.4 per cent, reaching $12.6 billion in the first seven months of this year.