A Vietnamese delegation led by Deputy Minister of Agricultural and Rural Development Nguyen Thi Xuan Thu is attending the 35th Meeting of ASEAN Ministers on Agriculture and Forestry (AMAF) in Malaysia.

The event, which opened on September 26 in the Malaysian capital, is being attended by ministers and representatives from ASEAN member nations’ agricultural sectors. They are discussing cooperation initiatives to ensure food security.

In his opening speech, Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin stressed the important challenges of food security.

The ASEAN region needs to increase food production and productivity, not only to serve food demand but also to enhance competitiveness against a backdrop of increasing globalisation and trade liberalisation, he said.

He suggested ASEAN further promote research and renovate technology to achieve high farm productivity, thus improving the economic performance of the sector.

The minister also proposed forming an inter-country fund to support integrated research and development (R&D) projects for the benefit all ASEAN member states.

Finally, Yassin pointed out the threat of climate change, which is already impacting tremendously on agricultural productivity.

He called on ASEAN to reduce these impacts in the region by boosting its joint efforts to conserve natural resources and protect the environment.-VNA