Ministers and high-ranking officials of 11 member countries at the meeting of ANRPC. (Source: Vietnam+)
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat attended the Special Session of the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC) Assembly at Ministerial level held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 8th May 2015 for joining the discussion of measures to stabilize natural rubber prices for long term, how to promote the cooperation between member countries, and to enhance the role of the Association in the future.
ANRPC is an inter-governmental organisation established in 1970 and has 11 members: governments of Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam. Overall natural rubber production of its members in 2014 accounted for about 92 per cent of the global production of natural rubber.
In this session, issues on natural rubber production, distribution and market were discussed. The meeting noted the performance of natural rubber market and the persistently low natural rubber prices that had resulted in low income to millions of rubber farmers. The Ministers agreed that to stabilize natural rubber prices at the level which is remunerative and sustainable to smallholders and also fair to consumers, coordinated strategic directions and solutions need to be implemented This will contribute towards addressing volatile short-term prices and stabilizing long-term natural rubber prices.
The Ministers tasked the ANRPC Secretariat to establish an Expert Group to implement a market research aiming at providing a more reflective price for natural rubber based on supply and demand fundamentals, stabilizing natural rubber market prices, and in particular establishing a common trading platform for natural rubber, coordinating natural rubber.
The role of ANRPC has to be strengthened as an authoritative source of natural rubber related statistics and information. The meeting also agreed that ANRPC shall coordinate its priorities in Research and Development with other institutions including IRRDB and work closely with them to disseminate the research.
In this special session, Vietnam delegates worked with other member countries and realized that urgent coordinating actions between member countries need to be implemented to improve the situation, increase income and well-being of natural rubber farmers. A number of key initiatives were also made in this meeting. Concerning the domestic market situation, the Minister Cao Duc Phat shared that Vietnamese rubber farmers should be introduced with the application of technology in order to reduce production cost and enjoy suitable rubber planting models and sustainable benefit rather than focus on expanding plantation and increasing yield.
Bilateral meeting between MARD’s Minister Cao Duc Phat and Malaysian MinisterAmar Douglas Uggah Embas (Source: Vietnam+)
Within the working agenda of the meeting, the Minister Cao Duc Phat had a bilateral meeting with Malaysian Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities Amar Douglas Uggah Embas.
Both sides agreed that bilateral cooperation should be continuously strengthened and at the same time the implementation of the initiatives and recommendations made from the meeting should be strengthen to stabilize rubber prices and market.
The Government’s Decree No. 30/2015/NĐ-CP was issued by the Government on 17/3/2015 providing guidelines on implementing some articles of Bidding Law related to the selection of investors, in which it is remarkable with preferiential policy to be applied for the investors of public-private partnership (PPP) project, who have the approved feasibility study, report and project proposal.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development awarded the medal "For the cause of agriculture and rural development" to Mme. Loida Rivera Fabre, Economic Counsellor of the Embassy of Cuba in Vietnam for her productive contribution to the development of Vietnam agricultural sector and cooperation between Cuba and Vietnam. This noble award expresses the appreciation of MARD to her proactive contributions for her tenure in Viet Nam from 10/2010.
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development awarded the medal "For the cause of agriculture and rural development" to Mr. Atsuki Tomoyose, the Second Secretary of the Embassy of Japan in Vietnam. This noble award was respectfully presented to international experts and officials, who have been working in Vietnam with the appreciation of MARD to their valuable contributions to the Vietnam’s agriculture sector.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development just issued Circular No. 07/2015/TT-BNNPTNT dated 14/2/2015 guiding the adoption of international, regional and foreign standards applied in the activities under the management of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The Circular takes effective from 2/4/2015.
According to the conclusion at the Plenary Meeting of the National Steering Committee on international integration 2015, the Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, Chairman of the Steering Committee requested that in the context of globalization, strong development of information technology, e-commerce, we must proactively catch the general trend and promote comprehensive international integration across all sectors.
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat had a meeting with Thailand’s Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives Petipong Pungbun Naaydhya to discuss the issues related to mutual cooperation in agriculture, particularly the cooperation in rubber tree planting, processing and trade exchange. The Thai minister said Vietnam has been invited to team up with Thailand and other regional countries to establish a group of member countries for the network aimed to set prices of latex products in the region and reduce reliance on the prices decided by the nations outside the region.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has launched the Emerging Pandemic Threats 2 (EPT-2) program to support efforts in Vietnam to better prevent, detect, and respond to infectious disease threats. This program is closely aligned with the key objectives of the governments’ partnership on the Global Health Security Agenda and Vietnam’s adoption of the International Health Regulations.
At the reception, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai affirmed that the Government of Vietnam encouraged Japanese businesses to cooperate with Viet Nam in the fields of industry, tourism, and agriculture. Deputy Prime Minister highly valued the government of Wakayama prefecture for dispatching expert to Viet Nam for helping fishermen of Binh Dinh province fishing and processing tuna, at the same time, recommended the prefecture to transfer technology, assist Vietnamese business to access market, promote the development of linkage models in agricultural and fruits production.
The National Target Program of New Rural Development makes efforts to reach its goal of having 20% of communes in the whole country to meet new rural standards by the end of 2015 achieved; an average nation-wide criteria of 11 per commune will be reached; ratio of communes meeting less than 5 criteria is under 5%.
It was reported that an estimate greenhouse gas emissions in the energy and agricultural fields, activities in land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) and waste materials in Viet Nam in the 2020s and 2030s, total greenhouse gases emissions in these 4 fields increases from 225.6 million tons in 2010 to 466 million tons I 2020 and 760 million tons in 2030.
At the meeting, on behalf of leader of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Vice Minister Le Quoc Doanh thanked the Government of Finland for having been providing support for Vietnam’s Forestry sector through the projects on forestry integrated with environmental protection, climate change, sustainable development, and forestry sector remains one of the three priorities (Forestry, Innovation, Fresh water and sanitation) in the Finland’s development cooperation strategy.
According to the Government’s Decree No. 15/2015/NĐ-CP dated 14/02/2015 about the investment in the public-private partnership (PPP) form, it regulated that the ratio of equity capital of investor is not less than 15% of total investment capital or at least equal to 10% of the capital share of over VND1,500 billion (if the total capital of the project is over VND1,500 billion).
It is the first time the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development organized a Forum to connect businesses run by overseas Vietnamese to local business to enhance cooperation relations between the State management bodies and overseas Vietnamese businesses and to connect businesses run by overseas Vietnamese to local business aiming at promoting agricultural goods market and strengthening the cooperation relations in the agricultural sector.
During the visit to Germany, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat had meeting with the German Minister of Food and Agriculture Christian Schmidt on 19th January 2015 aimed at strengthening the bilateral cooperation, particularly in the agro-forestry fields. At the meeting, Minister Cao Duc Phat appreciated the achieved results of the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture, and Berlin Agriculture Ministers’ Summit just held in Berlin. Minister Cao Duc Phat also expressed the appreciateion to the assistance and support provided by the Government of Germany to all sectors of Vietnam, particularly in the agricultural sector over the past years.
On 18th January 2015, Minister Cao Duc Phat and Vietnam Ambassador to Germany co-chaired a Dialogue Forum with the participation of Vietnamese importers of agricultural and fishery products in Germany during his visit to this country. Aims of the forum were to understand the goods import situation that Vietnamese importers were facing with and to encourage the engagement of Vietnamese importers as agricultural products distribution channel to introduce Vietnamese agricultural goods to German and EU markets.
In order to have measures on natural disasters prevention and control, in response to climate change and sea-level rise; responding to the Vietnam’s commitments when joining international convention and treaty on environmental protection and climate change adaptation, the Prime Minister issued the Decision No. 120/QĐ-TTg dated 22nd January 2015 approving the Plan on coastal forest protection and development in response to climate change in the 2015-2020 period.
On 23th January 2015, the Prime Minister signed the Decision No. 131/QĐ-TTg on giving the disbursement plan of the government bond fund in 2015 for implementing the National Targets Program on New Rural Development.
Within the working schedule of Vietnamese delegation headed by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh in the 45th WEF in Davos (Switzerland), Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat and leading officials of the agricultural sector attended the "Global Agenda for Food Security" session on 23rd January 2015. The session attracted more 1,000 leaders from 300 organizations and countries around the world.
Resolution No. 01/NQ-CP dated 03/01/2015 was issued by the Government providing key tasks, measures, and guidances for implementing the socio-economic development plan and the State budget estimate in 2015. As the goals set in 2015, GDP will increase by 6.2%; export turnover: by 10%; CPI: by 5%; Bad debt rate: under 3%; Poor household rates decrease by 1.7%-2%; jobs will be created for about 1.6 workers.
The project on the construction of Agriculture Service Center is a part of the Agreement on Economic, Culture, Education, Science and Technology Cooperation between the Government of Vietnam and the Government of Laos. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is designated as the leading agency and National Agricultural Extension Center is assigned as Project Investor.
Small-scale producers includes the producers of plant seed, animal breed, fertilizer, animal feed, pesticides, veterinary drugs, chemical, biological products, crop production and harvest establishments, fish farming and fishing establishments.
According to the report of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in 2014, quality of growth is continuously improved. Proportion of added value in total production value increased; international and domestic markets of agricultural, forestry and fishery products are developed and expanded. National Target Program on new rural development obtained encouraging results.
The year 2015 is defined as the key milestone of the agricultural sector to complete the implementation of the agriculture and rural development tasks. The sector concentrates on the better added value and sustainable development, which are expected to be the results of the strong reform of the agricultural sector in the link of the new rural development and bringing higher income for farmers.
In the year 2014, the Mekong Delta provinces have achieved significant and important results in political, economic, cultural and social areas though they had to face with many difficulties... The implementation of the agricultural sector restructuring has obtained initial sound results, positive changes of socio-cultural areas are also realized. Local political system, policies for minority people has been effectively implemented, social security has been ensured at the local level.
On 26-27/11/2014, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) organized a workshop on "Reforming Vietnam’s rice industry towards increasing added value and sustainable development for the new rural development". Specialists of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and IRRI agreed on the technical assistance with the main contents: High-quality rice varieties development; Special rice production for domestic consumption and export; Branding of Vietnamese rice; Reduction of post-harvest loss; Rice cultivation measures in response to climate change.
Five key areas that Tanzaniadesire to strengthen thecooperatinwith Vietnam, including: (1) Chemical fertilizerproduction; (2) Black teaandoilseedprocessing; (3) safecrop production, safe food value chain; (4) Cooperation in potential business areas; (5) Production o f seeds, which are supplied insufficiently by the country.
On 09th December 2014, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development awarded the medal "For the cause of agriculture and rural development" to Prof. Dr. Gard W.Otis, who is Professor of the University of Guelph in Canada and Project Manager on the bees raising and agricultural extension in the rural areas of Vietnam. This noble award is presented to international experts and officials working in Vietnam to express the appreciation of MARD to their proactive contributions to the Vietnam’s agriculture and rural development.
International Cooperation Department, in 2014 was assigned by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs to take lead and implement of “Survey and promotion of business linkage in the fields of agro-aqua and poultry products project”, this is one of the projects under the Agriculture and Rural Development Sector Program Support - the period 2007-2013 funded by the Dennish Government.
The project on “integrated rural development for improving the climate change resilience in the Mekong River Delta” worth US$300 million is funded by the World Bank which aims at introducing measures for better management of production, inter-regional and sectorial linkage in response to climate change and improve livelihoods for the locals in different areas.
On 09th December 2014, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development awarded the medal "For the cause of agriculture and rural development" to Mr. Mori Mutsuya, Chief Representative of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in Vietnamcworking in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) for his productive contribution to the development of Vietnam agriculture sector and cooperation between Japan and Vietnam.
Instruction No. 34/CT-TTg dated 11/12/2014 was just issued by the Prime Minister requesting ministries, sectors, local authorities to continuously strengthen the food safety control and foodborne prevention in the new situation.
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in coordination with Ministry of Science and Technology organized the Workshop on Science and technology in the agricultural sector restructuring linking with New rural development on 06th December 2014 in Hanoi. About 500 participants, who are scientists, managers, businesses, local authorities, and relevant ministries, sectors attended the Workshop.
Public investment and Public-Private Partnership (PPP) were the issues highlighted at the Vietnam Development Partnership Forum 2014. Changing the way of public investment was not only the matter of how to make investment focused and more efficient but gradually shifting investment from the State-run sector to private businesses was more important.
National Conference on “Food science and technology towards the sustainable development of food industry” was held on 28th November 2014 focusing on the essential topics as follows: Food and agricultural products processing; Agricultural products preservation; Green and cleaner production technology; Food biological technology; Food quality and safety analysis.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $230 loan to support Vietnam’s ongoing reforms to overhaul public finances, boost private investment and revive its economic. ADB-assisted program will be run along with the WB $250 million in loan and JICA $150 million in loan. The program is expected to be completed in June 2015.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and Germany’s KfW Development Bank signed a financial agreement funding the project of protecting and managing the forest ecosystem in Quang Nam, Kon Tum and Gia Lai provinces (KfW10)” in the period of 2014-2020, of which ODA grant is EUR8 million
Resolution No. 77/2014/QH13 dated 10the November 2014 regarding the socio-economic development plan 2015 was adopted by the National Assembly. The resolution provides major tasks which are to strengthen macro economy stability, continue to ensure social welfare. Specifically, in 2015, total domestic product (GDP) will be increased by some 6.2%; total export turnover will be increased by 10%; trade deficit/export turnover rate is about 5%; Consumer price index (CPI) will be increased by 5%; rate of poor households will be decreased by 1.7% - 2%, this rate, particularly in poor districts, will be decreased by 4%; unemployment rate in urban areas will be less than 4% and jobs will be created for 1.6 million workers ...
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Minister Cao Duc Phat affirmed that the establishment of IRRI office in Vietnam was one of the activities, which strengthened and promoted further the cooperation in food and agricultural development between Vietnam and IRRI, contributing to the restructuring of Vietnamese agricultural sector.
At a seminar on water resource management between Vietnam and Hungary, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam expressed his hope that Hungary will strengthen cooperation with Vietnam, especially in regards to the sustainable development of water resources when the two countries realize the importance of this resource. This also reaffirmed a high commitment to tie bilateral and multilateral cooperation between the two countries.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development just issued Circular No. 43/2014/TT-BNNPTNTdated 18th November 2014 promulgating the List of agricultural, forestry and fishery products; auxiliary products; mechanical equipments for preserving, processing agricultural, forestry and fishery products to be supported by the state budget under the Government's Decree No. 210/2013/ND-CPdated 19th December 2013. This circular will take effective from 05th January 2015.
On 25th November 2011, the Prime Minister issued the Decision No. 66/2014/QĐ-TTg approving an order of high technology sectors prioritized for investment and development and of high-tech products, that are encouraged to develop, including new-generation agricultural machinery manufacturing technology. This Decision replaces the Decision No. 49/2010/QĐ-TTg dated 19th July 2010 and will take effective from 15th January 2015.
ISG Plenary Meeting 2014 with the theme: “Fostering Agro-Industry: Opportunities and Challenges” was organized and co-chaired by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat, Chairman of Dong Thap PPC Nguyen Van Duong, and IFAD Country Programme Manager Henning Pedersen. The aim of the Meeting was to exchange and share information on the current agricultural products processing industry, policy dialogue, and the environment of investment in agricultural products processing industry towards increasing added value of Vietnamese agricultural products.
Workshop on “Technical assistance and investment promotion for agriculture restructure in Dong Thap province” aiming at opening dialogue, sharing information, seeking cooperation opportunities, technical assistance, investment promotion for agricultural sector was organized by Dong Thap Provincial People’s Committee on 25th November 2014 in Hanoi. Participants of the workshop included Leader of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and Leader representatives of central agencies, and many local and international investment organizations.
Delivering the speech at the signing ceremony, Minister Cao Duc Phat stressed that exchanging experience and promoting cooperation in the field of agriculture was needed for contributing to support the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in the process of the agricultural sector restructuring towards better added value and sustainable development.
The first meeting of Vietnam – Iran Joint Working Group on Trade in the framework of the Joint-Committee on Economics and Trade Cooperation between the Government of Vietnam and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran was held in Tehran, the Islamic Republic of Iran during 13-14 October 2014.
The Vietnam-Russia Joint Committee for Fisheries held the 5th session in Hanoi during 20- 31 October 2014, the Committee adopted the working agenda, and agreed on the information sharing related to the cooperation in the field of fisheries in the next stage; Draft Protocol, which revised and amended the Agreement dated 16th June 1994 and the Committee’s Operational Regulations; Orientation for the next cooperation considering the results of Vietnam-Russia Science and Technology Cooperation Meeting held in Nha Trang in May 2012.
The AMMDM 2 and relevant meetings were held in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam from 12-16 October 2014. Vietnamese delegates were led by Vice Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Hoang Van Thang.
In the Openning Speech by Dr. Le Quoc Doanh, Vice Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of Viet Nam at The 42nd International Pepper Session and Meetings were held in Ho Chi Minh city from 27 – 30 October 2014, mentioned that “The pepper production industry was expected to have significant growthwith a high added value, generating many benefits for producers, processors and exporters, contributing to stable national employment and sustainable national economic development”.
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat attended the 8th Asia-Europe Parliament Partnership (ASEP) Meeting from 6-7 October 2014 in Italy and played as one of the key speakers in concurred with the Italian Minister of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies during the discussion session on “sustainable growth and food security”.
Strengthening cooperation in agriculture between the provinces and cities of Vietnam and Ibarak prefecture of Japan - the province has the most developed agriculture in Japan - will foster the motivation from the central level to local level to promote Vietnam agriculture sector growth towards "Medium-to-long-term vision for agricultural sector cooperation between the two countries.”
ISG - International
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Tel: (84 - 4) 37711736 Fax : (84-4) 37713071 Email:isgmard@mard.gov.vn
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development awarded the medal "For the cause of agriculture and rural development" to Mme. Loida Rivera Fabre, Economic Counsellor of the Embassy of Cuba in Vietnam for her productive contribution to the development of Vietnam agricultural sector and cooperation between Cuba and Vietnam. This noble award expresses the appreciation of MARD to her proactive contributions for her tenure in Viet Nam from 10/2010.
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development awarded the medal "For the cause of agriculture and rural development" to Mr. Atsuki Tomoyose, the Second Secretary of the Embassy of Japan in Vietnam. This noble award was respectfully presented to international experts and officials, who have been working in Vietnam with the appreciation of MARD to their valuable contributions to the Vietnam’s agriculture sector.
According to the conclusion at the Plenary Meeting of the National Steering Committee on international integration 2015, the Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, Chairman of the Steering Committee requested that in the context of globalization, strong development of information technology, e-commerce, we must proactively catch the general trend and promote comprehensive international integration across all sectors.
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat had a meeting with Thailand’s Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives Petipong Pungbun Naaydhya to discuss the issues related to mutual cooperation in agriculture, particularly the cooperation in rubber tree planting, processing and trade exchange. The Thai minister said Vietnam has been invited to team up with Thailand and other regional countries to establish a group of member countries for the network aimed to set prices of latex products in the region and reduce reliance on the prices decided by the nations outside the region.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has launched the Emerging Pandemic Threats 2 (EPT-2) program to support efforts in Vietnam to better prevent, detect, and respond to infectious disease threats. This program is closely aligned with the key objectives of the governments’ partnership on the Global Health Security Agenda and Vietnam’s adoption of the International Health Regulations.
At the reception, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai affirmed that the Government of Vietnam encouraged Japanese businesses to cooperate with Viet Nam in the fields of industry, tourism, and agriculture. Deputy Prime Minister highly valued the government of Wakayama prefecture for dispatching expert to Viet Nam for helping fishermen of Binh Dinh province fishing and processing tuna, at the same time, recommended the prefecture to transfer technology, assist Vietnamese business to access market, promote the development of linkage models in agricultural and fruits production.
During the visit to Germany, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat had meeting with the German Minister of Food and Agriculture Christian Schmidt on 19th January 2015 aimed at strengthening the bilateral cooperation, particularly in the agro-forestry fields. At the meeting, Minister Cao Duc Phat appreciated the achieved results of the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture, and Berlin Agriculture Ministers’ Summit just held in Berlin. Minister Cao Duc Phat also expressed the appreciateion to the assistance and support provided by the Government of Germany to all sectors of Vietnam, particularly in the agricultural sector over the past years.
On 18th January 2015, Minister Cao Duc Phat and Vietnam Ambassador to Germany co-chaired a Dialogue Forum with the participation of Vietnamese importers of agricultural and fishery products in Germany during his visit to this country. Aims of the forum were to understand the goods import situation that Vietnamese importers were facing with and to encourage the engagement of Vietnamese importers as agricultural products distribution channel to introduce Vietnamese agricultural goods to German and EU markets.
In order to have measures on natural disasters prevention and control, in response to climate change and sea-level rise; responding to the Vietnam’s commitments when joining international convention and treaty on environmental protection and climate change adaptation, the Prime Minister issued the Decision No. 120/QĐ-TTg dated 22nd January 2015 approving the Plan on coastal forest protection and development in response to climate change in the 2015-2020 period.
On 23th January 2015, the Prime Minister signed the Decision No. 131/QĐ-TTg on giving the disbursement plan of the government bond fund in 2015 for implementing the National Targets Program on New Rural Development.
Resolution No. 01/NQ-CP dated 03/01/2015 was issued by the Government providing key tasks, measures, and guidances for implementing the socio-economic development plan and the State budget estimate in 2015. As the goals set in 2015, GDP will increase by 6.2%; export turnover: by 10%; CPI: by 5%; Bad debt rate: under 3%; Poor household rates decrease by 1.7%-2%; jobs will be created for about 1.6 workers.
The project on the construction of Agriculture Service Center is a part of the Agreement on Economic, Culture, Education, Science and Technology Cooperation between the Government of Vietnam and the Government of Laos. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is designated as the leading agency and National Agricultural Extension Center is assigned as Project Investor.
Small-scale producers includes the producers of plant seed, animal breed, fertilizer, animal feed, pesticides, veterinary drugs, chemical, biological products, crop production and harvest establishments, fish farming and fishing establishments.
According to the report of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in 2014, quality of growth is continuously improved. Proportion of added value in total production value increased; international and domestic markets of agricultural, forestry and fishery products are developed and expanded. National Target Program on new rural development obtained encouraging results.
The year 2015 is defined as the key milestone of the agricultural sector to complete the implementation of the agriculture and rural development tasks. The sector concentrates on the better added value and sustainable development, which are expected to be the results of the strong reform of the agricultural sector in the link of the new rural development and bringing higher income for farmers.
In the year 2014, the Mekong Delta provinces have achieved significant and important results in political, economic, cultural and social areas though they had to face with many difficulties... The implementation of the agricultural sector restructuring has obtained initial sound results, positive changes of socio-cultural areas are also realized. Local political system, policies for minority people has been effectively implemented, social security has been ensured at the local level.
On 26-27/11/2014, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) organized a workshop on "Reforming Vietnam’s rice industry towards increasing added value and sustainable development for the new rural development". Specialists of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and IRRI agreed on the technical assistance with the main contents: High-quality rice varieties development; Special rice production for domestic consumption and export; Branding of Vietnamese rice; Reduction of post-harvest loss; Rice cultivation measures in response to climate change.
Five key areas that Tanzaniadesire to strengthen thecooperatinwith Vietnam, including: (1) Chemical fertilizerproduction; (2) Black teaandoilseedprocessing; (3) safecrop production, safe food value chain; (4) Cooperation in potential business areas; (5) Production o f seeds, which are supplied insufficiently by the country.
On 09th December 2014, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development awarded the medal "For the cause of agriculture and rural development" to Prof. Dr. Gard W.Otis, who is Professor of the University of Guelph in Canada and Project Manager on the bees raising and agricultural extension in the rural areas of Vietnam. This noble award is presented to international experts and officials working in Vietnam to express the appreciation of MARD to their proactive contributions to the Vietnam’s agriculture and rural development.
International Cooperation Department, in 2014 was assigned by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs to take lead and implement of “Survey and promotion of business linkage in the fields of agro-aqua and poultry products project”, this is one of the projects under the Agriculture and Rural Development Sector Program Support - the period 2007-2013 funded by the Dennish Government.
The project on “integrated rural development for improving the climate change resilience in the Mekong River Delta” worth US$300 million is funded by the World Bank which aims at introducing measures for better management of production, inter-regional and sectorial linkage in response to climate change and improve livelihoods for the locals in different areas.
On 09th December 2014, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development awarded the medal "For the cause of agriculture and rural development" to Mr. Mori Mutsuya, Chief Representative of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in Vietnamcworking in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) for his productive contribution to the development of Vietnam agriculture sector and cooperation between Japan and Vietnam.
Instruction No. 34/CT-TTg dated 11/12/2014 was just issued by the Prime Minister requesting ministries, sectors, local authorities to continuously strengthen the food safety control and foodborne prevention in the new situation.
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in coordination with Ministry of Science and Technology organized the Workshop on Science and technology in the agricultural sector restructuring linking with New rural development on 06th December 2014 in Hanoi. About 500 participants, who are scientists, managers, businesses, local authorities, and relevant ministries, sectors attended the Workshop.
Public investment and Public-Private Partnership (PPP) were the issues highlighted at the Vietnam Development Partnership Forum 2014. Changing the way of public investment was not only the matter of how to make investment focused and more efficient but gradually shifting investment from the State-run sector to private businesses was more important.
National Conference on “Food science and technology towards the sustainable development of food industry” was held on 28th November 2014 focusing on the essential topics as follows: Food and agricultural products processing; Agricultural products preservation; Green and cleaner production technology; Food biological technology; Food quality and safety analysis.
Resolution No. 77/2014/QH13 dated 10the November 2014 regarding the socio-economic development plan 2015 was adopted by the National Assembly. The resolution provides major tasks which are to strengthen macro economy stability, continue to ensure social welfare. Specifically, in 2015, total domestic product (GDP) will be increased by some 6.2%; total export turnover will be increased by 10%; trade deficit/export turnover rate is about 5%; Consumer price index (CPI) will be increased by 5%; rate of poor households will be decreased by 1.7% - 2%, this rate, particularly in poor districts, will be decreased by 4%; unemployment rate in urban areas will be less than 4% and jobs will be created for 1.6 million workers ...
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Minister Cao Duc Phat affirmed that the establishment of IRRI office in Vietnam was one of the activities, which strengthened and promoted further the cooperation in food and agricultural development between Vietnam and IRRI, contributing to the restructuring of Vietnamese agricultural sector.
At a seminar on water resource management between Vietnam and Hungary, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam expressed his hope that Hungary will strengthen cooperation with Vietnam, especially in regards to the sustainable development of water resources when the two countries realize the importance of this resource. This also reaffirmed a high commitment to tie bilateral and multilateral cooperation between the two countries.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development just issued Circular No. 
On 25th November 2011, the Prime Minister issued the Decision No. 66/2014/QĐ-TTg approving an order of high technology sectors prioritized for investment and development and of high-tech products, that are encouraged to develop, including new-generation agricultural machinery manufacturing technology. This Decision replaces the Decision No. 49/2010/QĐ-TTg dated 19th July 2010 and will take effective from 15th January 2015.
ISG Plenary Meeting 2014 with the theme: “Fostering Agro-Industry: Opportunities and Challenges” was organized and co-chaired by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat, Chairman of Dong Thap PPC Nguyen Van Duong, and IFAD Country Programme Manager Henning Pedersen. The aim of the Meeting was to exchange and share information on the current agricultural products processing industry, policy dialogue, and the environment of investment in agricultural products processing industry towards increasing added value of Vietnamese agricultural products.
Workshop on “Technical assistance and investment promotion for agriculture restructure in Dong Thap province” aiming at opening dialogue, sharing information, seeking cooperation opportunities, technical assistance, investment promotion for agricultural sector was organized by Dong Thap Provincial People’s Committee on 25th November 2014 in Hanoi. Participants of the workshop included Leader of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and Leader representatives of central agencies, and many local and international investment organizations.
The first meeting of Vietnam – Iran Joint Working Group on Trade in the framework of the Joint-Committee on Economics and Trade Cooperation between the Government of Vietnam and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran was held in Tehran, the Islamic Republic of Iran during 13-14 October 2014.
The AMMDM 2 and relevant meetings were held in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam from 12-16 October 2014. Vietnamese delegates were led by Vice Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Hoang Van Thang.
In the Openning Speech by Dr. Le Quoc Doanh, Vice Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of Viet Nam at The 42nd International Pepper Session and Meetings were held in Ho Chi Minh city from 27 – 30 October 2014, mentioned that “The pepper production industry was expected to have significant growthwith a high added value, generating many benefits for producers, processors and exporters, contributing to stable national employment and sustainable national economic development”.
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat attended the 8th Asia-Europe Parliament Partnership (ASEP) Meeting from 6-7 October 2014 in Italy and played as one of the key speakers in concurred with the Italian Minister of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies during the discussion session on “sustainable growth and food security”.
Strengthening cooperation in agriculture between the provinces and cities of Vietnam and Ibarak prefecture of Japan - the province has the most developed agriculture in Japan - will foster the motivation from the central level to local level to promote Vietnam agriculture sector growth towards "Medium-to-long-term vision for agricultural sector cooperation between the two countries.”