Promoting agricultural cooperation between Vietnam and Poland

Minister Le Minh Hoan expressed his appreciation for the friendship between Vietnam and Poland throughout the years during the meeting. Vietnam is one of Poland's top five key partners in the Asia-Pacific area. The two nations have long emphasized multifaceted collaboration, with a particular emphasis on strengthening delegation exchanges at all levels and economic, trade, and investment cooperation.

The two sides have made efforts to expand bilateral trade, and Poland is now Vietnam's top commercial partner in Eastern Europe after the implementation of the EVFTA Agreement. This comprises the contribution of the two nations' agricultural, forestry, and fishing goods.

By 2020, agricultural, forestry, and fisheries trade between the two nations will total around USD 250 million. It exceeded USD 150 million in the first nine months of 2021. This graphic depicts the potential for the two nations to expand agricultural, forestry, and fisheries trade.

At the event, Ambassador of the Republic of Poland Wojciech Gerwel expressed gratitude to Minister Le Minh Hoan for his positive assessment of the two nations' good ties. The Ambassador said that agriculture and agricultural products are a priority for Poland and have significant growth potential. Meanwhile, collaboration between Vietnam and Poland in the agricultural sector has been growing in recent years and has the potential to expand further.

The Ambassador requested that the Vietnamese side facilitate Poland's entry into this market by establishing favorable circumstances for the export of beef and blueberries. Additionally, he emphasized zoning for African swine flu (ASF) while exporting pork to Vietnam.

Concerning the specific elements of the method for importing Polish blueberries into Vietnam, a representative of the Plant Protection Department said that the procedure for importing Polish blueberries into In Vietnam, the two nations' quarantine authorities are collaborating to complete a pest risk analysis (PRA) study prior to creating import rules.

Concerning the import processes for Polish beef, a Department of Animal Health spokesperson said that on December 25, 2020, the Department submitted a paper to the Polish Embassy in Hanoi demanding further information on disease monitoring and food safety. However, the Department got a response from the Polish side about a year later, on September 28, 2020. The Department of Animal Health is currently analyzing the material and will reply in a timely manner.

Regarding Poland's proposal for African swine fever (ASF) zoning of pork in accordance with World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) practice, the Vietnamese Department of Animal Health has generally agreed on technical terms and will send a document to the Polish Embassy in Vietnam outlining the content.

Minister Le Minh Hoan made a number of ideas during the meeting to boost the two nations' agricultural relations. As a result, the Minister invited a delegation from Poland's Agriculture Ministry to visit Vietnam in early 2022 to share information and foster collaboration in a variety of topics relevant to the two ministries.

Due to the enormous potential of the two countries' agricultural industries, particularly in the trade of agricultural, forestry, and fishery products, Vietnam's Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development stated that the two countries' products essentially do not compete directly but rather complement one another. The Minister highlighted that he would instruct the Vietnamese side's technical units to work closely with Poland to establish advantageous trading circumstances, therefore contributing to the two nations' objective of increasing their overall import and export turnover.

Minister Le Minh Hoan requested Poland's cooperation and creation of favorable circumstances for Vietnamese agricultural, forestry, and fisheries goods to be penetrated into the EU market in order to properly meet EVFTA obligations. The Minister proposed that Poland express strong support for the EU's decision to remove Vietnam's IUU yellow card; encourage EU enterprises to invest in agricultural production and business in Vietnam; and strengthen exchanges between the two ministries in order to develop ODA projects in agricultural production, rural development, and fishing shipbuilding and submit them to the two countries' governments for preferential ODA loans for units/Vietnamese localities.