HCM City, US eye hi-tech agricultural cooperation

US Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack takes a look at frozen products at a Coop Mart in HCM City. (Source: VNA)

HCM City (VNA) – There is room for agricultural cooperation between Ho Chi Minh City and the United States, especially in high-tech agriculture, according to municipal Party Committee Secretary Dinh La Thang.

In his meeting with visiting US Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack on April 26, Thang said t he two sides can cooperate in qualityverification, seedling development, food safety and human resourcestraining.

He said he hopesVilsack will accelerate agricultural cooperation programmes with the city and create favourable conditions for Vietnamese agriproductsto reach more Americans as well as help the city restructure its agricultural sector.

For his part, Vilsack said when the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) comes into effect, it will open cooperation opportunities, particularly in agriculture, for participating countries, including the US and Vietnam.

He said he would make efforts to tighten collaboration between the two countries in agriculture, help Vietnam increase its agriproduct share in the US market, and promote the sharing of experience in the use of water and land resources, husbandry, and vegetable and fruit farming.

The US official also affirmed that the US is willing to share experience with Vietnam in coping with climate change, in light of the difficulties Vietnamese farmers have suffered from drought and saline intrusion.-VNA