BẮC NINH — The Northern Industry and Trade Fair-Bắc Ninh 2026, part of the national trade promotion programme 2026, is under-way in Bắc Ninh.

The fair features more than 222 booths with over 200 participating organisations and businesses, showcasing and introducing industrial and trade products from provinces and cities in the region, One Commune One Product (OCOP) items, typical rural industrial products, traditional craft village products, signature products of businesses, as well as regional trade, tourism and food products.

Speaking at the opening ceremony on Wednesday, Nguyễn Văn Phương, deputy director of the Bắc Ninh Department of Industry and Trade, said the fair is to provide favourable conditions for businesses and cooperatives to promote their products, expand markets, strengthen supply-demand connections and foster linkages among localities and businesses. It is also an opportunity to introduce Bắc Ninh's potential, advantages, socio-economic development achievements and investment and business environment, while promoting signature products from northern provinces and cities.

The event is taking place as a resolution establishing Bắc Ninh as a centrally run city is set to officially take effect on September 20. In the new development phase, the locality has identified science and technology, innovation, high-tech industry, trade, services and logistics as key sectors, while strengthening connectivity with other localities and engaging more deeply in global supply chains. In this direction, the fair also provides an opportunity for Bắc Ninh to introduce to friends, partners and people nationwide the image, potential, aspirations and stature of a city taking shape.

Deputy Director of the Ministry of Industry and Trade's Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency Hoàng Minh Chiến emphasised that the expo, a major regional trade promotion event, provides an opportunity to showcase the province's development from a purely agricultural rural area into a key industrial growth pole and a centre for high-tech manufacturing, supporting industries and exports.

Hosting a regional-scale fair also helps affirm Bắc Ninh's role in economic, trade and logistics connectivity with the capital region and the Red River Delta, he noted.

Chiến expressed his hope that through the event, businesses and cooperatives would have more opportunities to seek partners, expand market share and access digital technology solutions in distribution, thereby improving efficiency and enabling Vietnamese brands to participate more deeply in value chains.

The fair runs until September 22. — VNA/VNS