General Director of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development's (MARD) Department of International Cooperation Tran Kim Long has said that Vietnam will step up improving the investment climate and hopes to see Japanese firms increase their investments in agriculture. He delivered the message at a forum in Hanoi on September 27, which was jointly organised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
According to Nguyen Do Anh Tuan, General Director of the Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development, Vietnam has issued many policies to promote investment in agricultural and rural development, including those relating to Japanese firms, and the country is building a draft decree on foreign investment attraction in the field.
He said Japanese businesses can invest in manufacturing machineries, pesticide and fertilizers for agriculture, as well as related technologies and the processing industry.
They can also cooperate with Vietnamese counterparts to build large-area cultivation areas and develop value chains and trademarks for the domestic and international market, he stressed.
Vietnam has yet to uphold its strength of agriculture due to the low productivity and low quality of farm produce, Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Shimose Kosaburo said, adding that Vietnam should build food value chains to overcome these limitations.
The Mid-Term and Long-Term Joint Vision on Agricultural Cooperation (2015-2019) will greatly contribute to Vietnam’s comprehensive agricultural development, he noted.
Japan investors have so far operated 41 agricultural projects worth 211 million USD in Vietnam.