Launch of the South-South Cooperation Working Group in Agriculture
On the afternoon of May 29, the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Environment organized a meeting to promote the development of Vietnam-Africa agricultural cooperation and launched the South-South Cooperation Working Group in Agriculture.
This is an economic event of special significance, demonstrating Vietnam's strong political determination to proactively realize the Party's foreign policy and the State's international integration policy. The event aims to bring international cooperation in agriculture into a substantive, effective, equitable, and mutually beneficial phase among Global South countries.
Attending the event were Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment Hoang Trung, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Anh Tuan, along with representatives from central ministries, agencies, localities, ambassadors, international organizations, research institutes, and the business community.
Speaking at the event, Deputy Minister Hoang Trung emphasized that the establishment of the South-South Cooperation Working Group in Agriculture is a timely decision to create a unified coordination mechanism, enhance cross-sectoral connectivity, and maximize resource mobilization. The working group will not only play a purely technical coordination role but must also serve as a focal point for connecting policies, experts, businesses, and international organizations to promote specific projects.
Deputy Minister Hoang Trung instructed the working group to focus on implementing five key tasks in the coming period: urgently completing an action plan with clear roadmaps, objectives, and coordination mechanisms; building a list of priority cooperation initiatives in Vietnam's strong areas where partners have needs, such as rice, livestock, fisheries, green and circular agriculture; prioritizing the promotion of several highly feasible pilot cooperation models for review, refinement, and replication; proactively working with diplomatic agencies, international organizations, and development banks to mobilize diverse financial resources; and establishing a network of domestic and international experts, scientists, and businesses to maintain an annual information-sharing mechanism.
Expressing a supportive stance, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Anh Tuan highly appreciated the meaningful initiative of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment. Deputy Minister Le Anh Tuan affirmed that Vietnam and African countries have always shared a deep historical bond and a common aspiration for self-reliance and development. Agriculture has always held a central position, receiving great expectations from leaders and people on both sides.
For the working group to operate effectively, Deputy Minister Le Anh Tuan emphasized that the diplomatic sector will actively contribute to creating a favorable political environment, deepening political trust, and raising awareness among localities and businesses about the potential of South-South cooperation. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will accompany Vietnamese enterprises in promoting investment opportunities, project development, and technology transfer in Africa, while mobilizing resources to implement projects under tripartite, quadrilateral, or public-private partnership (PPP) models; and promote the building of an open partner network for the working group to find new solutions and opportunities to support agricultural development in partner countries.
In his introductory report, Mr. Pham Ngoc Mau, Head of the South-South Cooperation Working Group in Agriculture, frankly pointed out that previous cooperation activities, though effective, were scattered, dependent on individual programs, and lacked a regular connectivity mechanism. Therefore, the establishment of the working group under the decision of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment on September 16, 2025, is a strategic step to move from fragmented cooperation to an organized coordination mechanism with responsibility for monitoring field results.
Mr. Pham Ngoc Mau affirmed that the working group will perform four main roles: a policy connection focal point; a platform for knowledge and expert connectivity; a bridge between public cooperation and the private sector; and a channel for advocating tripartite initiatives. The upcoming focus of the group is to quickly form a field expert network including managers, scientists, and businesses; while promoting deep participation of Vietnamese enterprises in the agricultural value chain in Africa, from supply of inputs, seeds, and equipment to logistics and deep processing.
Providing important professional input, Mr. Le Quoc Thanh, Director of the National Agricultural Extension Center, affirmed that the agricultural extension system is one of the key pillars of Vietnam's agricultural success in bringing technical advances from the laboratory to the field. Mr. Le Quoc Thanh emphasized that for cooperation models in Africa to achieve sustainable effectiveness, training local human resources and building easy-to-understand, easy-to-apply technical guidance materials suitable to the farming level of local farmers are crucial. The Center will proactively coordinate closely with the working group to send experienced field extension experts to participate in pilot models for rice, livestock, and fisheries in recipient countries.
The current global context is witnessing rapid, complex, and unpredictable changes. Strategic competition among major powers, along with intense political conflicts in many regions, has been disrupting global supply chains. Consequently, prices of food, energy, and agricultural inputs have been fluctuating, directly threatening global food security and the stable development of many countries. Alongside, challenges from severe climate change, extreme natural disasters, droughts, land degradation, water scarcity, and crop and livestock diseases are putting heavy pressure on agricultural production and people's livelihoods, especially in developing countries.
Against this backdrop, tightening international cooperation through the South-South mechanism has become an urgent requirement for countries to share knowledge, transfer appropriate technologies, and enhance response capacity. South-South Cooperation is not one-way support but an equitable sharing of best practices among countries with similar natural conditions and production levels.
The meeting to promote Vietnam-Africa agricultural cooperation and the Launch of the South-South Cooperation Working Group in Agriculture concluded with high consensus from all participants. The close combination of policy orientation, the group's detailed action plan, and direct field implementation solutions from specialized units such as the National Agricultural Extension Center will create new momentum. This synchronized coordination mechanism is expected to break all previous bottlenecks, driving South-South agricultural cooperation to breakthrough development, making substantial contributions to ensuring food security and prosperity for developing countries.
