Vietnam - Italy cooperate in developing green and sustainable agriculture

Deputy Minister Nguyen Hoang Hiep said that Vietnam is one of the countries most affected by climate change and has been pioneering in implementing "green" commitments, contributing to the "common home" of the global.

At the 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26), Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh committed that Vietnam strives to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, reducing methane emissions by 30% by 2030.

As part of the efforts to implement the above commitments, in January 2022, the Prime Minister approved the "Strategy for sustainable agricultural and rural development, period 2021-2030, vision to 2050".

Besides, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is actively implementing the Plans to implement commitments at COP 26, such as the Greenhouse Gas Emission Mitigation Plan (including the methane emission reduction plan), the agriculture sector- rural development to 2030, orientation to 2050; Action plan to implement the National Green Growth Strategy for the period 2021-2030.

Accordingly, the Ministry will try to develop the agricultural sector in the direction of ecology, organic, cyclical, and low carbon content to improve growth quality, added value, competitiveness, and sustainable development while reducing pollution in agricultural production and in rural areas, and promoting the efficient use of energy towards carbon neutrality by 2050, in particular setting the target of increasing the annual growth rate is 2.5-3% and the forest cover is 42%.

"To implement the above commitments, strategies and action plans, Vietnam needs to make great efforts, not only from the Government but also from the private sector and businesses at different scales, to unlock investment resources of the whole society, develop and change production models from "growth in output, productivity, using many inputs, using resources" to a new agricultural growth model that is "Green, low-emissions and adaptive to climate change", Deputy Minister Nguyen Hoang Hiep said.

The Deputy Minister highly appreciated signing the Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation between the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and Eni S.p.A Company expressed his belief that the memorandum will promote cooperation under the public-private partnership to develop a green, sustainable and low-emission agriculture industry.

The Deputy Minister hoped that Eni S.p.A Company and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development would actively exchange ideas to develop effective initiatives for the two sides to implement quickly. This cooperation will also strengthen the good diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Italy.

On the side of the Italian representative, Mr. Antonio Alessandro - Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and Plenipotentiary of Italy in Vietnam, said that the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation between the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and Eni S.p.A Company today is an important step to further strengthen collaboration between the two countries.

"Italy is proud to be a strategic partner of Vietnam, and 2023 is also the year Italy and Vietnam celebrate 50 years of diplomatic relations. With this memorandum of understanding, Eni can cooperate with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam to conduct energy activities and decarbonize to combat climate change," said Mr. Alessandro.

Alessandro Gelmetti, Managing Director of Eni Vietnam, affirmed that Vietnam and Italy share many similarities in sustainable development goals. In particular, Vietnam is committed to bringing net emissions to 'zero' by 2050. Italy also sets a target by 2030 to achieve net emissions of 'zero' for activities upstream.

“With the Memorandum of Understanding signed today, we hope to contribute to Vietnam's emissions reduction efforts by promoting the sustainable development of forests and promoting waste deflationary agricultural activities. Eni guarantees to support Vietnam financially and technically in long-term projects to contribute to achieving Vietnam's goals", a representative of Eni Vietnam Company shared.

After more than 45 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations and 5 years of establishing the strategic partnership, the Vietnam-Italy relationship is still on a positive development track, deepening in all fields. fields from politics, economy, culture, education and local cooperation.

Economically, trade has increased dramatically, tripling over the past 10 years (from US$ 1.5 billion in 2009 to more than US$ 4.6 billion in 2018). Vietnam is Italy's largest trading partner in ASEAN and conversely, Italy is Vietnam's third largest trading partner in the European Union (EU).