Vietnam - Brazil sign an action plan to implement cooperation in agriculture

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s high-level visit to the Federal Republic of Brazil (September 23 - 25, 2023) is the first visit of a Vietnamese senior leader to Brazil after 16 years. This is an important event as the two countries will celebrate the 35th anniversary of diplomatic relations in 2024.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva discussed important areas in Vietnam - Brazil relations. The two leaders agreed on the importance of harmonizing economic growth, social development and environmental protection, including topics such as energy security as well as food and nutrition security.

The leaders are determined to join forces to help strengthen global governance under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Kyoto Protocol, and the Paris Agreement.

Within the framework of the high-level visit, the two leaders witnessed the signing ceremony of four important documents related to diplomacy, education and training, national defense, and agriculture.

Regarding the agricultural sector, the two countries signed the “Action Plan between Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Brazil’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock for the 2023 - 2025 period.” This national action plan aims to implement cooperation agreements signed in the MoU (July 2, 2018) between the countries’ Ministries of Agriculture.

On September 25 (local time) in Brasília, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva witnessed the Signing Ceremony of the Action Plan. MARD Deputy Minister Nguyen Hoang Hiep and Brazil’s Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply, Henrique Baqueta Fávaro, presided over the signing ceremony.

Accordingly, the Action Plan is built on the foundation of selected priority areas for cooperation in the MoU, including cooperation in developing agriculture, forestry, fisheries, engineering technology, and biofuels, among others.

Negotiating with MARD leaders, Brazil hopes that Vietnam will continue facilitating agricultural trade and discuss deliverables. Brazil is particularly interested in exchanging agricultural trade data and statistics regarding names of trade products, trade volume, trade value, export destinations and import origins.

On Vietnam’s side, MARD commits to refining policies and regulations on the import and export of agricultural, forestry and fishery products. The working group discuss the need to import and export products to identify potential exchange products, as well as negotiate on the market access for agricultural, forestry and fishery products between the two countries.

Especially, in the context of global climate change, cooperation in the forestry sector is of interest to both countries. In the coming years, Brazil’s Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply (MAPA) aims to recover the degraded pastures and improve tropical pastures. The recovery of degraded pastures to the tropical climate will enable the intensification of production, the preservation of biodiversity and greater efficiency of livestock.

In addition, Brazilian leaders wish to discuss the development of agroforestry models (AFS) in forest ecosystems. This method offers a way to recover degraded areas, diversify agricultural production, including native species of economic value and promote local economies.

Sustainable forest management, biodiversity conservation and creating livelihoods for highland people are some of the top tasks of Vietnam’s forestry industry. MARD representatives are committed to sharing technical experience related to wood production for the furniture industry. At the same time, the agroforestry method will encourage local people to join hands in preserving and managing forests.

Regarding sustainable agricultural development, the Brazilian side wishes to strengthen partnerships, exchange knowledge and regulations in regenerative agriculture, and contribute to the implementation of national emission reduction goals (e.g., wet rice cultivation). Vietnam’s MARD is committed to discussing the potential for cooperation on circular agricultural economy and emission reduction.

In addition, the fields of conservation - innovation, animal husbandry and veterinary medicine are also of interest to both MARD and MAPA. In the coming years, Vietnam - Brazil will organize seminars to discuss key programs and activities to prevent African swine fever and foot-and-mouth disease. At the same time, agricultural leaders will establish conservation programs on the farm, research and apply high technology applications in agriculture.