Agriculture play a key role in ASEAN Economic Community

On October 11^th 2018, in Hanoi, Vietnam hosted and held the 40^th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture and Forestry (AMAF) as chairman of the tenure. Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung attended and spoke at the opening session of the Meeting.

Speaking at the opening session, Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung said that ASEAN had become a successful regional cooperation mechanism, maintaining the consensus principle, and obtaining various achievements on all three pillars: politics – security, economy and culture – society. Besides, ASEAN was making fundamental changes in its approaches, and enhancing the cooperation performance among members, as well as with other external partners.

“ASEAN’s central role in regional dialogue and cooperation mechanisms has been strengthened, which is an important factor in promoting peace, stability and development in Asia – Pacific,” said Deputy Prime Minister.

ASEAN was also moving forwards to achieving goals of ASEAN Vision 2025, including the action plan of ASEAN Economic Community for 2016 – 2025. ASEAN members signed and implemented free trade agreements (FTAs) with 6 key partners in the region. They were about to complete the negotiation on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

According to Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung, ASEAN’s growth and development had been significantly contributed by agro-forestry over various periods. “Agriculture plays a key role in the economic, political and social stability of each member country, and partner in the region”, noted Deputy Prime Minister.

In fact, in most of ASEAN countries, agriculture was considered as the “backbone” of the economy, helping countries overcome fluctuations and crises, contributing to food security and sustainable development. “Therefore, agricultural and forestry cooperation is always the key component of the ASEAN Economic Community,” affirmed Deputy Prime Minister.

“I’m confident that along with the joint efforts of the regional cooperation and each member country, ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture and Forestry will accelerate the implementation course of the ASEAN Economic Community, Vision and Strategic action plan on ASEAN cooperation in food and agro-forestry for 2016 – 2025,” said Deputy Prime Minister.

At the same time, Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung also affirmed that as an active member of the ASEAN community, Vietnam attached great importance to regional cooperation, continued to invested appropriately in resources and research, and proposed feasible initiatives for enhancing cooperation performance, and promoting the development of sustainable agriculture for the sake of ASEAN residents.