Vietnam, EU share view on importance of sustainable supply chain, food security

Hanoi (VNA) – Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien and EU Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski have affirmed the need to step up economic and trade ties, especially amid complicated market uncertainties making it urgent to guarantee sustainable supply chains and food security.

At a recent meeting in Hanoi, Dien highly valued the EU’s close and effective coordination in the enforcement of the EU - Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA). He also applauded the deal’s positive effects on promoting bilateral trade, including the fast growth of Vietnam’s agro-forestry-fishery exports to the EU.

Amid the necessity for diversifying supply sources to ensure food security, Vietnam holds many advantages and is able to provide agricultural and food products to the EU market, he noted.

The two sides discussed outstanding problems and worked on orientations and activities, particularly working together to implement the EVFTA more effectively.

The Vietnamese minister asked the EU to continue prioritising technical and financial assistance as well as technology transfer for Vietnam so that the country can effectively carry out cooperation projects on capacity building with policies and production models that meet EU regulations and standards, including food safety, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, and other technical criteria.

Dien called for favourable conditions for production, examination, certification and trading of products while encouraging EU investment in promising areas such as agricultural and food processing, and high-tech farming oriented towards a circular economy, green transition and climate change adaptation.

In the first five months of 2022, bilateral trade rose 15% from a year earlier to 26.25 billion USD, including 19.59 billion USD in exports and 6.65 billion USD in imports from the EU.

Notably, exports of agro-forestry-fishery products, which benefit from considerable preferential treatment under the EVFTA, increased 37.5% to 2.05 billion USD, according to the General Department of Vietnam Customs./.