VIETNAM AND JAPAN STRENGTHEN COOPERATION IN AGRICULTURE AND RURAL AREAS

On November 17, in Hanoi, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) Le Minh Hoan had a meeting and discussed with Mr. Shimizu Akira, Chief Representative of JICA Vietnam Office. They discussed the contents of cooperation in the coming time between Vietnam and Japan.

Minister Le Minh Hoan welcomed and discussed with Mr. Shimizu Akira, Chief Representative of JICA Vietnam Office.

At the meeting, Minister Le Minh Hoan highly appreciated JICA's relationship with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, which is part of the overall relationship between Vietnam and Japan over the past 50 years. This relationship has developed deeply and effectively in many fields and has reached a new stage since the two countries became a Strategic Partnership. In the period from 2015 to 2019, Vietnam's agricultural industry has received 10 Japanese ODA projects deployed in many localities, making great contributions to the development and restructuring of Vietnam's agricultural industry. In the period from 2020 to 2024,  two countries have promoted cooperation activities to support Vietnam in perfecting policies and institutions for agricultural development in Vietnam, deploying and replicating the cooperative model in localities, and disaster reduction. Minister Le Minh Hoan expected Japan and Vietnam to cooperate more closely in the coming time.

Minister Le Minh Hoan shared that the Minister had the opportunity to visit cooperatives in Japan and was very impressed with the cooperative spirit of the Japanese in cooperative models. The Minister asked JICA to support capacity-building activities for the leaders of cooperatives in Vietnam.

Mr. Shimizu Akira said: In the near future, JICA will have a project to build a food value chain for the Northern region. The project will be started in March 2022. This project has many contents, including capacity building activities for Cooperative leaders, safe production, towards green agriculture. Mr. Shimizu Akira expressed his desire to support the capacity building of human resources in agriculture by supporting interns to study in Japan.

In the field of natural disaster prevention, Mr. Shimizu Akira shared: JICA has received a certificate of merit from the Prime Minister of Vietnam in this field. In the coming time, JICA is expected to implement two projects, which are the project to reduce storm and flood in the central region and the project to reduce risks of flash floods and landslides in the northern mountainous regions. JICA highly appreciated the cooperation of the General Department of Disaster Prevention and Control with the JICA Vietnam office.

Minister Le Minh Hoan suggested that JICA continue to support projects to improve human capacity in agriculture; the project to build a fishery service center in Khanh Hoa, integrating many values, especially in the center, there is a training class for fishermen on fishing and fishing techniques. Minister Le Minh Hoan proposed JICA to support the construction of the National Steering and Administration Center for Disaster Prevention and Control, support the development of smart village models, agricultural tourism, and digital transformation.

Minister Le Minh Hoan expressed that it would be great if JICA would accompany Vietnam in formulating a strategy for agricultural and rural development, helping Vietnam with the perspective of an experienced country like Japan.

Source: Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development

HNN (mard.gov.vn)