Hanoi (VNA) – The potential for agriculturaland aquaculture cooperation between Vietnam and countries in the Middle Eastand Africa was discussed at a workshop in Hanoi on September 10.

The event was part of a two-day conferencegathering Middle Eastern and African ambassadors to Vietnam.

Addressing the workshop, Vietnamese DeputyMinister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Quoc Doanh said with thesupport of some developed countries and international organisations, Vietnamhas successfully carried out many bilateral and multilateral cooperation modelsin agriculture. It has sent more than 400 experts to help develop agriculturein many African nations like Mozambique, Benin, Guinea and Senegal. 

Thanks to the assistance of the Vietnameseexperts, the rice, crop and aquaculture output of the pilot projects there hasincreased, gradually helping the African countries ensure their food security,he noted.

Doanh also appreciated the considerabletechnical assistance and preferential loans from the Arab and Kuwait funds forVietnamese localities to implement irrigation and rural development projects.

Introducing Vietnam’s agriculture and itscontributions to agricultural development in other countries, Deputy Directorof the Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences Dao The Anh said Vietnam’sagriculture has attained outstanding achievements in cooperation projects onfood plant study and development in many nations like Sudan, Nigeria andMozambique in Africa, Cuba and Venezuela in Central and South America, or Laosand Uzbekistan in Asia.

At the event, Mozambican Ambassador LeonardoRosario Manuel Pene said thanks to the production methods transferred byVietnam, agricultural output in his country has reached 7 tonnes per ha,compared to only 2 tonnes per ha in 2010 when the two countries began theircooperation.

Likewise, the annual fish farming output inMozambique was only 600 tonnes in 2009, but the figure has increased to 3,000tonnes at present thanks to Vietnam’s technical support since then, he noted.

He expressed his hope that Vietnam will transfertechnologies, irrigation systems and processing services to and invest inagricultural infrastructure in Mozambique in the coming time.

On this occasion, the Vietnam Academy ofAgricultural Sciences, the Institute of Organic Agricultural Economics, theLavifood JSC and the Vietnam Green Startup Fund signed a memorandum ofunderstanding on cooperation in the study and application of agriculturalsciences for the sustainable development of agricultural value chains in theMiddle East and Africa.-VNA