Vietnam and Sweden have pledged to continue to intensify the exchange of information, knowledge and experiences in various prioritised areas of agriculture and rural development.
The commitment is reflected in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that was signed in Hanoi on June 2 by Swedish Ambassador to Vietnam Rolf Bergman and Vietnamese Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) Cao Duc Phat.
The areas include inter alia state management functions in fisheries, irrigation and rural development; food safety; animal health; crop and seed varieties; forest management; and research.
In his remarks delivered at the signing ceremony, Ambassador Bergman emphasised that the MOU is a great step towards a new form of cooperation between parties from Sweden and Vietnam .
“It is a privilege to attend this ceremony and be part of a continuation of our longstanding relations in new and exciting forms. We are thus leaving a relation very much based on a donor-recipient basis and entering a relation which will be between two equal partners,” he said.
According to Minister Phat, Sweden-funded programmes have made positive impacts on the development of Vietnam ’s agriculture and rural sector.
“These programmes focusing on developing the forestry sector played a meaningful role and had a direct impact on poverty elimination, contributing to boosting Vietnam ’s socio-economic development,” said Phat.
He added that Sweden ’s financial assistance for agricultural and forestry studies as well as technical assistance from Swedish experts have contributed to strengthening agricultural sciences.
Over the past 15 years, Sweden has provided nearly 100 million USD to the MARD programmes, around half of which was given to agricultural and forestry scientific studies.
This year, Vietnam is expected to escape from the group of low-income countries, then the cooperation approach between Vietnam and Sweden will transfer from “give and receive” to an equal partnership relationship, Phat said.
With the new cooperative approach, Phat expressed his belief that the cooperative ties between Vietnam and Sweden will be developed to a new vision with many successes./.
The commitment is reflected in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that was signed in Hanoi on June 2 by Swedish Ambassador to Vietnam Rolf Bergman and Vietnamese Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) Cao Duc Phat.
The areas include inter alia state management functions in fisheries, irrigation and rural development; food safety; animal health; crop and seed varieties; forest management; and research.
In his remarks delivered at the signing ceremony, Ambassador Bergman emphasised that the MOU is a great step towards a new form of cooperation between parties from Sweden and Vietnam .
“It is a privilege to attend this ceremony and be part of a continuation of our longstanding relations in new and exciting forms. We are thus leaving a relation very much based on a donor-recipient basis and entering a relation which will be between two equal partners,” he said.
According to Minister Phat, Sweden-funded programmes have made positive impacts on the development of Vietnam ’s agriculture and rural sector.
“These programmes focusing on developing the forestry sector played a meaningful role and had a direct impact on poverty elimination, contributing to boosting Vietnam ’s socio-economic development,” said Phat.
He added that Sweden ’s financial assistance for agricultural and forestry studies as well as technical assistance from Swedish experts have contributed to strengthening agricultural sciences.
Over the past 15 years, Sweden has provided nearly 100 million USD to the MARD programmes, around half of which was given to agricultural and forestry scientific studies.
This year, Vietnam is expected to escape from the group of low-income countries, then the cooperation approach between Vietnam and Sweden will transfer from “give and receive” to an equal partnership relationship, Phat said.
With the new cooperative approach, Phat expressed his belief that the cooperative ties between Vietnam and Sweden will be developed to a new vision with many successes./.
