New Vision for Vietnam - Korea Agricultural Strategic Cooperation

Deputy Minister Le Quoc Doanh worked with KOICA Vice President Jeong Hee Im on building a cooperative vision between Vietnam and Korea in the agricultural sector.

New impetus to promote strategic agricultural cooperation between Vietnam and Korea

Deputy Minister Le Quoc Doanh (right) presents OCOP gifts to KOIKA Vice President Jeong Hee Im.

Speaking at the ceremony, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Quoc Doanh said that after 30 years of establishment, diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Korea have been deepened and elevated to the level of a strategic partnership. Remarkable developments have been recorded in many fields such as trade, investment, culture, education, agriculture and rural development.

Korea has become the largest investor in Vietnam with more than 9,000 investment projects and a total cumulative capital investment up to 72 billion USD. In terms of trade, Korea is Vietnam's third largest trading partner with bilateral trade turnover in 2021 worth nearly 80 billion USD.

In 2021, despite being heavily affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, the import-export turnover of agriculture, forestry and fishery products between Vietnam and South Korea reached $2.9 billion, up by 17.4% compared to 2020. That consists of 2.3 billion USD worth of export and 630 million USD of import. Agriculture is still the main pillar of Vietnam economy during the pandemic.

In order to achieve these successes, apart from huge efforts of all domestic industries, Vietnam has also received a lot of practical help from international friends, including effective help and support from the Korean partners including KOICA, through programs and projects on capacity building, technology transfer, investment and trade in agriculture - fishery - seafood.

Deputy Minister Le Quoc Doanh assessed that the diplomatic, political, economic and people-to-people relations between the two countries are very favorable. Currently, there are about 150,000 Koreans living in Vietnam, and vice versa, there are also 150,000 Vietnamese people living and working in Korea. In fact, the two countries have many similarities in terms of traditions, culture, and characteristics. Therefore, when meeting and working with Vietnamese people, Koreans feel very comfortable.

Deputy Minister Le Quoc Doanh worked with Vice President of KOICA.

On behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Deputy Minister Le Quoc Doanh thanked KOICA for the cooperation and their assistance in many aspects over the time. In particular, the Ministry has coordinated with KOICA to develop a medium-term vision, which is expected to be signed in May 2022 on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Korea.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is looking forward to and expects the vision of the medium and long-term agricultural strategic cooperation between Vietnam and Korea to be signed and implemented the soonest to support Vietnam in achieving ambitious agricultural goals in eco-agriculture - modern countryside - smart farmers according to the orientation of the Strategy for sustainable agricultural and rural development to 2030 and vision to 2050 that the Prime Minister has just promulgated.

The Deputy Minister suggested that KOICA continue paying attention to, providing technical support, and transferring technology in the fields of high-tech agriculture, digital transformation, and value chains for key agricultural products of each ecological region, supporting programs and projects to promote each country's potential, especially agricultural infrastructure projects such as irrigation, fishing ports, supporting green growth and reducing emissions in agriculture according to Vietnam's commitments in the Conference 26th United Nations on Climate Change (COP26).

In particular, Deputy Minister Le Quoc Doanh would like Korean and KOICA to organize programs to improve managers’ capacity in the fields of agriculture and rural development. Deputy Minister suggested that, along with traditional programs and projects, with a common cooperative vision, it is necessary to further promote the potential and comparative advantages of each side, to diversify types of cooperation from technological support and technology transfer to new forms of investment such as public-private partnerships, joint ventures, to improve value chains, create favorable conditions, encourage and attract Korean businesses to invest in agriculture in Vietnam.

The Deputy Minister affirmed that the Ministry of Agriculture is committed to coordinating with KOICA to cooperate and connect with local governments to build projects, organize and implement projects effectively and on time, to be aligned with the agriculture and countryside development strategy of Vietnam.

Congratulating the outstanding developments of Vietnam in the recent years, especially in the agricultural sector, KOICA Vice President Ms. Jeong Hee Im hopes that, along with the effective cooperation between the two countries over the past 30 years, the extended cooperation in the field of agriculture in the coming time will become even more effective and prosperous.

She hopes that the two countries will officially sign a Memorandum of Understanding on a bilateral cooperation program on building a medium and long-term strategic agricultural cooperation vision in May 2022, serving as a basis for accelerating the implementation of the plan. quickly cooperate in agriculture between Vietnam and Korea, in the best interests of the people and businesses of the two countries..

Tuan Anh
Nong Nghiep Vietnam News