He told the Dien dan Doanh nghiep (BusinessForum) newspaper in a recent interview that 2020 was a year full of challengesand difficulties for Vietnam’s economy, including the agriculture sector, dueto the COVID-19 crisis. The sector also had to face natural disasters,including unprecedented drought.
The growth and trade targets for the sector lastyear were also the highest ever, with exports set at over 41 billion USD.
However, Cuong noted, thanks to the efforts of theentire political system, ministries, sectors, localities, and economicelements, the agricultural sector managed to secure growth of about 2.65percent and post export earnings of 41.25 billion USD, with nine groups of commoditiesenjoying shipments of over 10 billion USD.
These were good results amid a market filledwith fluctuations caused by COVID-19, the minister said, adding that the sectoreyes growth of some 2.7-3 percent this year and exports of 42 billion USD.
Meanwhile, the PM recently stated thatagriculture offers important support for the economy, and set this year’sexport target at 44 billion USD, which expresses his high expectations for thesector.
The target is considerable but also feasible,according to Cuong.
He quoted the PM as saying that the Governmenthas been working to address issues relating to international markets, and withsuch efforts the country is confident of handling ties with major markets ofVietnam’s agricultural products.
Vietnam earned about 3.49 billion USD fromexports of agricultural, forestry, and fisheries products in January, up 27.1percent year-on-year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment shows.
Under a plan recently approved by the PM,Vietnam expects the annual figure to reach some 60-62 billion USD by 2030./.
VNA