On the 15th of April GTZ managed Small-and- Medium-sized Enterprise Development Programme, a joint project between the Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment and the German Technical Co-operation, organised a closing ceremony in Hanoi. Over the last four years, the programme increased the competitiveness of small-and medium-sized enterprises in Viet Nam, targeting interventions on the national level and in four pilot provinces: An Giang, Dak Lak, Hung Yen and Quang Nam. During this event, Fresh Studio received a special award of recognition for its contribution to the development of the avocado value chain.  For more information about the avocado value chain which Fresh Studio helped to develop, visit: www.dakado.vn.

Today Sigrid will give a presentation about “Creating value chains in Asia” as invited speaker during the 7^th World Potato Congress in Christchurch, New Zealand. This conference is visited by 500 key players of the potato industry. For more information about the conference visit: http://www.wpcnz.org.nz/

Siebe van Wijk and Jeroen Pasman just returned from Cambodia where they investigated the potential of the Cambodian fruit sector for exports within Asia and possibly to Europe. So far nobody seriously looked at the Cambodian fruit sector. Siebe and Jeroen found a very vibrant domestic sector, with relatively high domestic fruits prices and several very good quality domestically produced fruits, which certainly have potential for exports to Asia and Europe.