(MARD) – On October 28th, in Hanoi, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan had a meeting with Ms. Elsbeth Akkerman, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Netherlands in Vietnam
At the meeting, Minister Le Minh Hoan and Ms. Elsbeth Akkerman shared greetings about the good diplomatic relationship between the two countries in general and long-term cooperation in the agricultural sector in particular, especially especially the Program on Agricultural Transformation in the Mekong Delta. This is a cooperation activity to implement the Memorandum of Understanding between the two Prime Ministers on cooperation in sustainable agricultural transformation in the Mekong Delta, signed on April 9, 2019.
Ms. Elsbeth Akkerman said that the Netherlands and Vietnam currently have a very good bilateral relationship. Agencies in the Netherlands are interested in Vietnam and Vietnam is always the top priority of these organizations.
Currently, the Department of International Cooperation and the Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development are working together to draft a draft strategy for agriculture and rural development to adapt to climate change.
According to Minister Le Minh Hoan, the Netherlands attaches great importance to Vietnam as a strategic partner in two major programs, namely Climate Change Response and Water Resource Management and Food Security in the context of climate change. These are two pillar programs with Vietnam in the field of agriculture and rural development. With initial results, the Netherlands has made useful recommendations for Vietnam. This will be the basis for Vietnam to better identify challenges in the coming time.
For the Mekong Delta region, after the Government’s Resolution No. 120/NQ – CP on sustainable development of the Mekong Delta adapts to climate change, in the last 3 years in the process of converting production axis In the past, Vietnam valued rice, but now fisheries are number one. Fruit trees are second and rice is last. Vietnam advocates reducing rice area, structure of quality rice varieties and better management. The results are very clear in 3 years of conversion. Aquatic production increased, the area of fruit trees increased from 390,000 hectares to nearly half a million hectares, the rice area decreased from 4.2 million hectares to 3.9 million hectares.
On behalf of the Dutch Embassy, Ms. Elsbeth Akkerman pledged to continue to support the MARD, which is an important partner of Vietnam’s agriculture, and promote the implementation of the agricultural transformation program in the Mekong Delta to be effective. fruit.
In the near future, Minister Le Minh Hoan will discuss with Ms. Elsbeth Akkerman a strategy to better exploit the potential advantages of the two sides in accordance with the spirit of strategic cooperation signed by the two Prime Ministers./.
Source: NLA (Mard.gov.vn)
