Vietnam, China seek ways to boost agricultural cooperation hinh anh 1At the talks (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) –
China wants to cooperate with Vietnam in agricultural development such as science-technology, research facilities, infrastructure construction, farm produce processing, and agricultural investment, a Chinese official has said.

Chinese Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Han Changfu made the statement during talks with Vietnamese Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong in Hanoi on October 14.

China hopes to cooperate with Vietnam in preventing African swine fever (ASF) from crossing the border, he said, adding that the two countries have shared experience in the field and will push ahead coordination in the coming time.

Han noted that China has always been the biggest importer of Vietnamese farm produce, and it will step up cooperation with Vietnam to promote agricultural product trading.

Vietnam’s agricultural products could access to the Chinese market through trade fairs and exhibitions where businesses could set up partnerships, he added.

According to Cuong, Vietnam and China have many groups of agricultural and aquatic products that could be supplemented each other. 

Vietnam’s agricultural production capacity is extremely huge with about 50 million tonnes of food, 5 million tonnes of meat, 8 million tonnes of aquatic products, 12 billion eggs, 1 million tonne of milk, and 20 million cubic metres of wood, Cuong said.

Particularly, Vietnam has big advantages in producing coffee, pepper, rubber and cashew nuts, he said.

China is a big import market of Vietnamese farm produce, Cuong said, adding that the bilateral cooperation potential remains huge and the two sides should consider the possibility of supplying agricultural products for the global chain.

He suggested the two nations enhance cooperation in science-technology to cope with climate change and natural disasters as well as further develop the processing of farm produce.

The Vietnamese minister recommended the two sides to organise workshops to share experience in climate change response and deal with plant diseases.

Cuong proposed the Chinese minister facilitate the official export of some Vietnamese fruits to China such as durian and sweet potato.

The two ministers agreed to assign specialised agencies to prepare for the upcoming meeting in 2020, focusing on science-technology, connecting businesses in processing farm produce and developing the agricultural market, rural development, climate change adaptation, and cross-border disease control./.

VNA