A favorable time to promote trade in Vietnamese agricultural products

This is the affirmation of the Minister of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs of the United Kingdom when working with Deputy Minister Tran Thanh Nam recently.

Key commodities such as seafood, wood, coffee, vegetables, cashews, cashews, and handicrafts of Vietnam are all groups of British goods in high demand.

According to information from the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, on May 13, the Ministry’s delegation headed by Deputy Minister Tran Thanh Nam visited and worked with the Ministry of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs of the United Kingdom.

At the meeting, Deputy Minister Tran Thanh Nam highly appreciated the coordination of the two countries in bilateral cooperation activities in the field of agriculture and environment recently. According to him, the import and export goods of the two countries do not directly compete but complement each other’s markets.

Therefore, the Vietnamese side hopes that the UK will continue to support the promotion of bilateral cooperation in general and agricultural trade in particular in the direction of sustainability, harmony of interests and commensurate with the potential and strengths of both sides.

The UK is considered a market with a lot of room for Vietnamese businesses to expand their market share.

Regarding vocational training support, the Vietnamese side hopes that the UK will actively share experience and support annually to organize about 3 training courses or training for 20 trainees in the field of vocational training, techniques in production, food processing, and agricultural mechanization.

In terms of trade cooperation in animal-derived products, Vietnam has opened its market for pork and poultry, and is processing proposals to open the market for beef and poultry protein powder, increasing the number of UK exporters.

“I ask the British side to support improving training and training capacity in building a database on phytoquarantine; promote market opening. At the same time, strengthen cooperation in disseminating import regulations, thereby supporting trade promotion of plant-derived products and pesticides (safe and effective products for plants).

Regarding promoting the opening of the market for timber and wood products, the Governments of the two countries need to quickly coordinate and agree on a Negotiation Plan to soon sign the Timber Trade Agreement between Vietnam and the United Kingdom, similar to the content of the FLEGT VPA Agreement that the Government of Vietnam has signed with the EU. In addition, creating favorable conditions and removing barriers for businesses of the two countries to operate in accordance with the current legal regulations of the two sides,” Deputy Minister Nam shared.

Listening to the opinions from the Vietnamese side, the Minister of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs of the United Kingdom Daniel Zeichner agreed that this is a favorable time for the two countries to promote agricultural trade.

“The two sides need to consider opening the market more strongly for Vietnamese agricultural products. However, to realize this goal, strengthening food safety control will be a key factor,” Mr. Daniel Zeichner emphasized.

Minister Daniel Zeichner also asked the Agricultural Counsellor of the British Embassy in Vietnam to further promote its role in supporting and connecting markets and promoting bilateral cooperation programs.

On the basis of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on cooperation in the field of agriculture and rural development signed by the two ministries in November 2022, the two ministries will coordinate to develop an action plan, with a focus on food safety control, in order to concretize the commitments signed in the Memorandum.

Specifically, the two sides have agreed to strengthen coordination in controlling and handling problems related to shipments of agricultural, forestry and fishery products that do not ensure food safety in import and export between the two countries. At the same time, it is expected to organize a delegation exchange to learn experiences on quality control, inspection of food hygiene and safety conditions, testing and risk assessment when approaching new markets.

In addition, there is a plan to organize 1-2 programs annually to train and improve the professional capacity of about 15 officials. The Vietnamese side wishes to receive support from the UK to build a food safety control and traceability model along the value chain for a number of key products, piloting with 3 chains: vegetables, fruits, processed pork and seafood.