APEC exhibition on food products and new agricultural technologies

The delegates visiting the exhibition (Credit: baocantho.com)

An exhibition on food products and new agricultural technologies in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum has officially opened in the Mekong Delta province of Can Tho on August 21.

The event was held as part of activities during the APEC 2017 Food Security Week and a High-Level Policy Dialogue on Enhancing Food Security and Sustainable Agriculture in Response to Climate Change.

The exhibition features 18 booths with a wide range of special agricultural products from six APEC economies, such as green tea (Japan), cereals (Australia) and milk (the US).

Vietnam had eight booths featuring products from rice to corn, high-yielding fruits, models of machines and equipment serving for agricultural production along with information on intelligent technologies responding to climate change which are currently being used in Vietnam.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Vice Chairman of the Can Tho city People’s Committee Dao Anh Dung said that the exhibition offers an opportunity for APEC member economies to exchange and share their experience as well as enhance cooperation to promote the sci-tech applications in agricultural production, increasing agricultural productivity and meeting requirements for food and nutritional security.

He also emphasised that over the recent years, many programmes and projects have been implemented in the Mekong River Delta region to help farmers sustainably produce and synchronously apply technical solutions which will increase the productivity and quality of agricultural products thus improving the income of farmers and to assist in coping with climate change.

On the same day, the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) signed a Letter of Intent for a long-term commitment to agricultural research cooperation.

The letter was signed by Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Quoc Doanh and Dr. Peter Horne, the ACIAR’s general manager for country programmes.

At the signing ceremony, Dr. Peter Horne appreciated the active participation of Vietnamese partners in the process of developing a new strategy for the cooperation between the two countries. The new strategy will help provide a roadmap for Australia and Vietnam to work in an equal partnership, he added.

Dr. Horne expressed his hope that the two sides will make mutual contributions and receive benefits for economic growth, security and innovation under the next ten year framework for collaborative agricultural research.

Under the plan, the ACIAR will work with the MARD and other partners to continue assisting Vietnam to address obstacles for agricultural development under six focus research areas: Food safety; Climate change; Improving soil fertility and crop efficiency; Improving market engagement; Improving the value from forests; and Aquaculture.

ACIAR is the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, a part of the Australian Government’s Development Assistance Programme, helping developing countries reduce poverty and achieve sustainable development.