The European Commission (EC) has provided 500,000 USD to help Vietnamese, Laotian and Cambodian businesses to develop methods of green production to achieve sustainable development through the project “Cleaner Production for Better Products” (CP4BP).
The CP4BP project, which began in 2008, aims at developing and marketing sustainable products in the three countries for their export markets.
During its 16 months of operations, international and national experts attached to the project have worked with companies to advise them on product strategy, product packaging, cleaner production techniques and marketing.
As a result, 74 newly-designed and improved products in the furniture, aquaculture and handicrafts sectors have been introduced.
Additionally, 9 intensive training courses, 70 in-company consultancy sessions on sustainable product development, product packaging, marketing and cleaner production methods have been carried out for a wide range of workers, including 250 engineers, experts, designers and lecturers of 120 companies, associations, consultancy agencies, state management agencies and universities in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.
A website at www.cp4bp.org has been put into operation to give online support for innovative production techniques.
The Project has brought about a profound change in awareness in companies, organisations and individuals in how to integrate sustainability factors into their products design and development processes.
The resulting products from the participating companies have attracted remarkable attention from other companies and organisations. So far, 123 companies and organisations have registered with the network for sustainable product design and development.