UNIDO, FAO: Vietnam is doing well as a leader in food system transformation

Representatives of international organizations attending the fourth Global Conference on Sustainable Food Systems all agreed that Vietnam is doing very well in its leading role in food system transformation. However, there are still many issues that need to be resolved to move towards sustainable agriculture with low impact on the environment and more benefits for the people.

With many technical assistance projects for Vietnam's agricultural sector to strengthen capacity, digital application, technology transfer, etc., the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) has been contributing to Vietnam's efforts in building green agriculture in response to climate change.

According to Mr. Gunther Beger, CEO of UNIDO, Vietnam has achieved remarkable development in the field of food production, especially in food processing. With the goal of promoting exports, Vietnamese agricultural products coming to the world need to meet the strict requirements and standards of demanding markets. Vietnam is also tightening regulations related to food processing and safety. This is the right direction to promote export value as well as increase people's income.

"I think Vietnam is moving in the right direction. We are all seeing the development of Vietnam, the spectacular change from an importing country to becoming the world's leading producer and exporter of food and foodstuffs, with a series of top export agricultural products such as rice and coffee," said Mr. Gunther Beger.

But this fast development process of production also entails many consequences, such as environmental degradation, which affects human health. Transforming food systems in a more sustainable direction thus become a matter of great importance for Vietnam.

"The new crises we are facing today show that we need to find new ways to produce food. The Global Conference of the One Planet Network's Sustainable Food Systems Programme is an important event that nurtures the first steps to ensure food security as well as food production without environmental damage," said the CEO of UNIDO.

Assessing the conference, Ms. Corinna Hawkes, Director of the FAO’s Food and Food Safety System, affirmed that this is a good opportunity for countries to share experiences and ideas as well as work together to build food systems.

Food system transformation is a really necessary requirement, so if countries and partners attain good linkage, the change will be more and more obvious and effective. "It is really necessary to see what we need to do to produce better, create more nutritious food, more improvement on the environment, and therefore a better life for human. The conference will be an opportunity for the parties involved to achieve these goals." said Ms. Corinna Hawkes.

The FAO representative said that the conference demonstrated Vietnam's role in the story of the transformation towards sustainability, from which Vietnam can share its experience with the world, and other countries can also learn from each other to make this effort a reality.

According to FAO's assessment, one of the obvious changes in the organization of this fourth conference is the strong political will for the Food Systems Programme. Without stronger linkages between countries and relevant partners to transform the food system, it will be difficult to achieve the sustainable development goals, economic goals, climate change response goals, and nutrition goals that were established.

With the slogan "Together Transform", the FAO representative emphasized the interdependent and interplay relationship between responsible production and responsible consumption, between supply and demand. Thereby, all relevant factors in the relationship between production and consumption must be considered.

"We need to build a food production base where people or consumers can become healthier. We also need to make sure that consumers are aware and well informed that they are an important part of the food system and their decisions affect the food system," stated Ms. Hawkes.

Changing awareness is also an important task. All must understand that the purpose of agricultural production is not only to produce food but also to ensure environmental protection and nutritional factors.