HANOI: Netherlands is eager to join hands with Vietnam to improve the quality and efficiency of its agriculture, a business forum on Agriculture-Innovation in Vietnam said.
Dutch Vice Minister for Agriculture Marjolijn Sonnema said the Netherlands and Vietnam are very similar countries, both with deltas and being major producers and exporters of agricultural products.
She is leading a trade mission comprising 20 Dutch companies and knowledge institutions to Vietnam from March 20 to 23 to explore business opportunities.
In 2014 the two countries signed a Strategic Partnership Arrangement to create a framework for long-term co-operation in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security.
Many Dutch companies are operating in Vietnam and “many other Dutch companies and institutions intend to trade foods and exchange knowledge and technology with Vietnam,” Marjolijn said.
“Hopefully we can continue our trading tradition and make it even more beautiful by co-operating on knowledge and technology, which can help a lot to improve quality and efficiency in agriculture.”
Saving the delta from climate change, upstream developments and unsustainable practices is ultimately a question of agricultural development, which requires a large-scale transformation of current practices, major investment and providing farmers with knowledge of markets, Tom Kompier of the Dutch embassy in Hanoi said.
According to an executive of the East West Seed Company, the agricultural sector needs to increase production by 70 per cent to feed the world population, which is expected to increase to nine billion by 2050.
At the event Dutch and Vietnamese companies signed four memoranda of understanding for co-operation in various sectors.
Deep Arctic Water BV and Phương Nam Landscape Co. Ltd signed an MoU for technology and knowledge transfer and the roll-out of sustainable, high-tech, affordable, scalable and cost-effective circular agro systems.
Two other agreements were signed between Control Union and Institute of Organic Agricultural Economics and between TEN ID and IDV for introducing and certifying international standards in the agricultural value chain and helping the Mekong Delta shrimp industry achieve sustainability.
Bilateral trade is growing steadily. In 2015 Vietnam’s exports increased by 42 per cent and imports by 37 per cent. The Netherlands is Vietnam’s second largest trade partner in the EU and the largest investor.
