(VAN) On June 17, the signing ceremony of cooperation documents between MARD and the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) was held in Hanoi.
The signing ceremony of cooperation documents between MARD and the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) was held on the morning of June 17. Photo: Duc Sinh. 

The signing ceremony featured Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) Le Quoc Doanh,  Director of KOICA Representative Office in Vietnam Cho Han Deog, and representatives from related departments and agencies of MARD and Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Vietnam. 

On the morning of June 17, two documents were signed between MARD and KOICA including the Memorandum of Understanding "Building a medium- to long-term vision for Vietnam - South Korea agricultural cooperation in the period of 2021-2025" and a discussion minutes "Training program for Vietnam National University of Agriculture to strengthen human resources in Vietnam's livestock industry."

According to the Deputy Minister of MARD, after around 30 years of diplomatic establishment, Vietnam and South Korea have upgraded the relationship to strategic partner and have witnessed outstanding development in many fields such as trade, investment, culture, education and agriculture, and rural development.

"Statistics show that South Korea has become the largest investor in Vietnam with over 9,000 projects and total accumulated investment capital reaching nearly USD72 billion. In terms of trade, South Korea is Vietnam's third-largest trading partner, with two-way trade turnover in 2020 reaching USD66 billion," said Doanh.

The MARD representative also stressed that the Memorandum of Understanding "Building a medium- to the long-term vision for Vietnam - South Korea agricultural cooperation in the period of 2021-2025" has a significant practical meaning to promote the sustainable development in the agriculture field of the two countries. 

Deputy Minister Le Quoc Doanh and Cho Han Deog  - Director of KOICA representative office in Vietnam signed Vietnam - Korea agricultural cooperation documents on the morning of June 17. Photo: Duc Sinh. 

"I suggest that besides the traditional cooperative program and projects, the Memorandum of Understanding would focus on promoting further the potential and comparative advantages of the two sides; Diversifying forms of cooperation ranging from technical assistance and technology transfer to new forms of investment such as public-private partnerships, joint ventures, value chain linkages; Encouraging and attracting investment in agriculture; Improving the quality and value of agricultural, forestry and fishery trade between the two countries, among others,” Doanh suggested.

For the part of discussion minutes "Training program for Vietnam National University of Agriculture to strengthen human resources in Vietnam's livestock industry", Doanh assessed it boasts great potential and space to develop. 

The ministry will instruct the Vietnam National University of Agriculture to implement the project effectively to enhance the competitiveness and capacity of competent parties to contribute to the development of the livestock industry and promote it to the global value chain, Doanh emphasized. 

Appreciating the cooperation over the past time, Cho Han Deog said that the potential for agricultural cooperation between Vietnam and Korea will achieve more new achievements in the future.

"Among the Korean Government's support strategies for Vietnam, agricultural development policies are considered a very important part. Therefore, cooperation projects are increasingly diversified in terms of form but scale”, said the director of the KOICA office in Vietnam.

Cho added, the cooperation documents signed today will be the premise to promote the development of agricultural cooperation between Vietnam and Korea and level up the quality of human resources training for Vietnam's livestock industry. 

Author: Tung Dinh. Translated by Linh Linh.