Of the total, 10-12 percent growth is expected to come from craft villages. Handicraft products’ export revenue is hoped to hit 200 million USD, up 6.9 percent compared to 2017.

Nguyen Doan Toan, Vice Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee, said that in 2017, the city’s industry development policies helped industrial production increase 7.3 percent year on year, including nearly 89.5 trillion VND of rural industrial production, up 33.3 percent over the previous year.

Toan noted that the number of labourers working in the rural industry in 2017 was over 417,600 up 4 percent year on year. Their average income exceeded 47 million VND per year, an increase of 13 percent.

Last year, the city helped 12 rural industrial establishments upgrade technology, he said, adding that several effective projects were launched, including those developing production chains of organic fertilisers and steel production.

However, he also pointed out that some activities to boost industrial production were not implemented due to wide area and a lack of qualified personnel.

To effectively implement the targets in 2016-2020, the city will launch industrial promotion programmes in a comprehensive manner.

Hanoi will assist 40 rural industrial establishments to hold vocational training courses on the craft industry for about 1,400 labourers, while sending owners of about 1,500 other establishments to training courses on start-ups, international integration and product design.

The city will also help 10 establishments apply modern technology in production to raise their products’ quality and productivity, said Toan.