Strengthen Vietnam - Africa agricultural cooperation

On September 9th, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in coordination with the MARD and Francophonie International, has organized the "Agricultural Cooperation Vietnam - Africa: Strengthen Connectivity, Develop Sustainably Together" webinar to exchange measures to further improve agricultural cooperation between Vietnam and African countries.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son shared that Vietnam considers agriculture a key sector of the economy, a policy to develop modern, intelligent commodity agriculture, linked to the international market... He expressed his delight at the encouraging results from the agricultural cooperation between Vietnam and African countries, especially within the framework of South-South cooperation.

Vietnam and many African countries have become each other's leading agricultural trading partners, and since agriculture is an area full of potential for cooperation between Vietnam and African countries, both sides need to make full use of these opportunities, find new methods to improve cooperation efficiency, head towards sustainable development together.

Vietnam has sent roughly 500 experts to support agricultural development in African countries. The success of agricultural development cooperation projects in Africa has contributed to ensuring food security for many African countries. The Vietnam Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will propose the Government establish a South-South Cooperation Center to act as a focal point in order to promote agricultural cooperation with African countries.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Quoc Doanh assessed that with a population of nearly 1.3 billion people and the increasing demand for import and export of agricultural products, Africa will be a potential market with plenty of room for development especially in the field of agricultural commodity trade as well as agricultural production and processing. However, the scale and level of cooperation at the moment are still at a humble figure, not commensurate with the potential and desires of both sides due to many objective and subjective reasons.

The delegates at the webinar highly appreciated the Vietnamese Government's initiative to organize an Agricultural Workshop with Africa; expressed their admiration for Vietnam's dynamic economic development and extensive integration in the world, which had made Vietnam one of the leading countries in terms of exportation of several important agricultural products; being one of the few countries to achieve positive growth and record agricultural and aquatic exports despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Speaking at the closing of the webinar, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Quang Hieu affirmed that Vietnam always highly regards friendship and multifaceted cooperation with African countries, including agricultural cooperation. The results of agricultural cooperation between Vietnam and African countries in recent years have been very positive, particularly in the agricultural commodity trade.

Many key export products of Vietnam such as rice, coffee, seafood... have penetrated well and gained a foothold in the African market, while many African agricultural products such as cotton, wood, raw cashew nuts ... play an increasingly important role in Vietnam’s processing industry to serve the needs of domestic consumption and export.

Upon the goal to promote agricultural cooperation, both sides need to have high resolve and unity in awareness, seek to remove difficulties and obstacles, and create favorable conditions for agricultural cooperation.