Vietnam ready to assist Tanzania in agricultural development: ambassador

Pretoria (VNA) – Vietnam is ready to provide technical support and share experience in agricultural development with Tanzania, Vietnamese Ambassador to Tanzania Nguyen Nam Tien said during a recent meeting with the host country’s Minister of Agriculture Adolf Faustine Mkenda.

At the working session in Dodoma capital on June 17, Tien said the two countries boast considerable potential for cooperation in crop cultivation, animal husbandry, aquaculture, and forestry.

He also introduced Vietnam’s agricultural strengths to the Tanzania minister, noting that Vietnam earned more than 41 billion USD from agricultural exports in 2020, with the US being the largest importer, followed by China, the EU, ASEAN, and Japan.

Congratulating Mkenda on his reappointment as Minister of Agriculture, one of the most important economic sectors in Tanzania, the diplomat expressed his delight at the recent strides in the countries’ relations and spoke highly of the outcomes in bilateral cooperation in bilateral and multilateral aspects

For his part, Minister Mkenda highlighted their countries’ sound relations throughout history, noting that in agriculture, Tanzania prioritises developing crop varieties and animal breeds, boosting production supporting services, increasing irrigation, expanding markets for agricultural exports, providing finance, and managing diseases

He asked Vietnam to share experience in developing such key farm produce as rice, coffee, tea, and cashew nuts while calling on Vietnamese enterprises to invest in building agricultural processing factories in his country.

The two sides shared the view on the importance of signing agreements, firstly those on double taxation avoidance and investment facilitation and protection, so as to create a legal framework for bilateral cooperation.

Ambassador Tien also welcomed Tanzania attending a Vietnam - Africa conference on agriculture to be chaired by the Southeast Asian nation in late 2021./.