Vietnam - India agricultural trade: Potential left untouched

At the working session with Mr. Sandeep Arya, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of India to Vietnam, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan said, "Despite sharing a comprehensive strategic partnership, agricultural cooperation between Vietnam and India is limited. Both countries still have the potential to balance and promote trade in agriculture, forestry and fishery products"

Vietnam's agricultural export turnover to India in 2022 was estimated at a modest USD 465 million, accounting for approximately 1.5% of India's total agricultural import turnover.

According to Minister Le Minh Hoan, strict trade barriers caused the export-import turnover to remain low specifically India's tariffs and non-tariffs on Vietnamese agricultural, forestry and fishery products. Businesses from both countries lack information on market demand, import regulations, distribution channels, and import hub.

Aiming towards the goal of promoting bilateral agro-forestry-fishery trade between Vietnam and India, Minister Le Minh Hoan suggested India consider importing Vietnamese pomelos. "The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam has provided the Indian government with technical details regarding cashew shells and cashew kernels. We are also collecting data regarding dried cinnamon leaves and colored cashews to deliver them as soon as possible".

In addition, the Minister suggested the two countries to strengthen the exchange of information with regards to Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures. This transparency will facilitate the export of products of animal and plant-based products.

The leader of Vietnam's agriculture sector also recommended both parties to promote cooperation between agro-forestry-fishery businesses, enhance information exchange on market demand, import regulations, distribution channels, import hubs, and connect businesses with local distribution systems. Minister Le MInh Hoan said that Vietnam and India should apply 4.0 technology in the fields of sanitary and phytosanitary as well as food safety.

In response to Minister Le Minh Hoan's remarks, Ambassador Sandeep Arya affirmed that the strong relationship between Vietnam and India is a solid foundation to establish a mutually beneficial partnership between the two agricultural sectors. For the last decade, both countries have focused on developing the industrial and service sectors, so agricultural cooperation was partially neglected. However, agriculture renmains a key aspect which has a significant impact on both the people of India and Vietnam.

"Vietnam and India has had many agreements during the past 5 - 7 years, but we have not found a strategic and effective area for cooperation. In terms of agricultural trade and commerce, cooperation in agricultural research between Vietnam and India lacks depth and focus. We need to establish detailed orientations for the near future, so that we can promote cooperation effectively," said the Ambassador.

Ambassador Sandeep Arya believed that both India and Vietnam have risen to become leading agricultural producing countries on a global scale. As a result, it is necessary to identify key and beneficial areas for cooperation. The Ambassador listed several examples including: measures to respond to climate change and global warming, saltwater intrusion treatment, climate change adaptive reproduction, applicaiton of information technology, digitization in agriculture, application of space technology for resource management in agriculture among many other suggestions.

The Ambassador emphasized the remarkable progress Vietnam has made in the fields of aquaculture and cashew nut processing. Vietnam has also made great efforts to meet the standards of exporting agricultural products to the global market.

"India wishes to learn, exchange experiences and engage in bilateral cooperation with Vietnam in the field of aquaculture production as well as processes that meet Vietnam's standards on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures," said Mr. Sandeep Arya.

With a large population of vegetarians, India is a promising market for Vietnamese sea grape products. These products contain high nutritional value and offer the consumers many health benefits. Accordingly, ​​Khanh Hoa province in the South Central Coast features a deep, clean and sealed bay with a high level of salinity. This environment is ideal for the development of high-value sea grapes.