Illustrative image (Photo: VNA)

Washington D.C – Vietnamese Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan and Marc Mealy, Senior Vice President for Policy at the US-ASEAN Business Council (USABC), co-chaired a seminar connecting agricultural enterprises of Vietnam and the US on May 13 in Washington D.C.

The event took place on the sidelines of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s trip to the US to attend the ASEAN-US Special Summit. It was attended by representatives from agencies, businesses and associations in the agricultural sector of the two countries and several banks and investment funds, and representatives from some major US industry associations such as the Soybean Export Council, the Grains Council, the National Pork Producers Council and multinational agricultural corporations.

At the seminar, a representative of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development informed participants about the priority strategy for the development of Vietnam's agricultural sector in the coming time as well as opportunities and challenges in promoting bilateral investment and trade.

With the desire that the two sides will become a reliable and sustainable partner of each other, representatives from businesses and industry associations straightforwardly exchanged ideas, especially about difficulties and obstacles in production, business and investment in Vietnam.

Minister Le Minh Hoan pledged to accompany US businesses and investors in handling difficulties and barriers so as to create a favourable production, business and investment environment for the international business community in general and US firms in particular.

At the event, four cooperation agreements were signed, namely a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Partnership for Sustainable Agriculture in Vietnam (PSAV) with Pepsico and Care International on enhancing food production cooperation in Vietnam; an MoU between Bac Giang province and ERG group on promoting trading of local agricultural products; an MoU between Moc Thinh Phat furniture production joint stock company and Grasslands Farms company on promoting trade in agricultural products; and an MoU between Nevist Vietnam International Import-Export Company and AGP on trade and investment promotion in the sector.

Enterprises of the two countries also discussed the possibility of cooperation to promote trade, seek investment opportunities, transfer technology, and explore the possibility of cooperation between large US and multinational groups to bring Vietnamese agricultural products to the global value chain.