Opening of ASEAN Special Senior Officials Meeting on Agriculture and Forestry

As part of the agenda of Vietnam's tenure as the chair of the 40th AMAF and the 18th AMAF+3, from 4^th to 9^th August 2019, the ASEAN Special Senior Officials Meeting on Agriculture and Forestry (Special SOM-AMAF) will take place in Hue City.

The Conference program will propose a number of priority contents in the field of agriculture, namely: Improving border management activities; promoting ASEAN Single Window mechanism, border quarantine; harmonizing common standards and technical regulations on goods’ quality, food safety and animal and plant quarantine in ASEAN to facilitate trade of agricultural goods in the region; Ensuring food security, nutritional security and food safety; Regional cooperation in disease and animal disease control; Training on risk assessment, food safety risk management, inspection, inspection, traceability of agro-forestry and aquatic foods, early risks warning system among ASEAN countries; Establishing and strengthening activities of information exchange, policy forums, sharing experiences on rural agricultural development models, coping with climate change, and international economic integration.

In addition, the Meeting will review and evaluate ASEAN agricultural and forestry cooperation activities since the AMAF40 Ministerial Meeting. At the meeting, the Technical Cooperation Working Groups will report activities within the framework of the Working Group and propose recommendations for SOM-AMAF’s approval (if any). The Meeting will also discuss cooperation programs with partners (China, Japan, Korea, Russia) to promote and facilitate ASEAN agricultural trade.

As the President of the 40th AMAF and the 18th AMAF+3, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development actively participated in cooperation activities with ASEAN within the framework of the ASEAN Agriculture and Forestry Ministers Meeting (AMAF) and other relevant ASEAN cooperation activities. Vietnam has participated fully in 49 AMAF Working Groups and presided over many activities of specialized working groups in agro-forestry and fishery sectors in rotating order or according to the content of initiatives.

In 2018, Vietnam successfully hosted and chaired the 40th AMAF Ministerial Conference, the 18th AMAF + Ministerial Conference, the 6th ASEAN-China Ministerial Meeting on SPS and other SOM-level conferences in Hanoi. All the meetings focused on reviewing ASEAN cooperation activities in the field of agriculture, forestry and fishery, adopting regional cooperation strategies and policies, approving work plans of specialized working groups, discussing and resolving outstanding issues in the ASEAN region and strengthening cooperation with external partners towards the goal of sustainable agricultural development and food security in the context of climate change.