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The Prime Minister has approved a master plan for developing the agricultural sector until 2020 with a vision for 2030 on the Decision No 124/QD-TTg dated 02 February 14, 2012.

The plan targets to develop agriculture, forestry and fishery sector towards improving productivity, quality, competitiveness and sustainability.

The world today faces one of the biggest challenges of the 21st century: how to feed 9 billion people by 2050 in a way that is not detrimental to planet Earth, under a changing climate and in the context of growing competition for land and natural resources.

Minister Duc Phat for Rural Development in Vietnam paid a visit to the dairy cooperative FrieslandCampina in the Netherlands early October 2011. FrieslandCampina is known in Vietnam for the dairy productsof Dutch Lady and Friso infant and toddler nutrition.

The purpose of the Minister’s visit was to be informed about the most recent developments in dairy farming in the Netherlands, particularly in the areas of quality and quality assurance for farm milk and dairy products.The Netherlands and FrieslandCampina are leading in the field of quality control for dairy products.

Hanoi,  Madam Rosenholm, Deputy Ambassador of Denmark in Vietnam and Dr. Bui Ba Bong, Vice Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam signed the MOU on Danish assistance to Vietnam in response to climate change (CC) with the support of 28 billion VND (equivalent to approximately 7.5 millions DKK) on 2nd December .

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat and Country Director of World Bank in Vietnam Victoria Kwa Kwa presided over the Plenary Meeting of the International Support Group (ISG) in 2011, with the theme "Vietnam towards the new vision for agriculture" held on 26 October 2011 in Hanoi. The Meeting was attended by over 200 participants from donor community, international and non-government organizations, state own and private enterprises and different ministries.

By end of October, the export turnover of agro-forestry and fishery products of Viet Nam has made a new record of US$20.8 billion, higher than the total 2010 export turnover of US$1.3 billion.

Price advantage:

Most of the exported prices of agro-products have increased for the last 10 months compared to 2010. For the fist time, the price of Viet Nam exported rice was almost as Thai rice’s, attaining US$500/ton on average (increasing 7%). Rice was also the key product contributing largely to the aggregated export turnover, i.e. only in 10 months of 2011, Viet Nam exported 6.5 million tons of rice with the turnover of US$3.3 billion (rising 20.3%).

The annual Meeting between MARD Minister, Dr. Cao Duc Phat and Laos Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Dr. Vilayvanh Phomkhe was held in Luang Phrabang province, Lao PDR from 17 – 19 October 2011. At the meeting, the two Ministers have affirmed the long-time friendship and relationship between the two Ministries and the effective cooperation for the farmers’ benefits. Ministers Phat and Phomkhe have signed the Agreement between MARD of Viet Nam and MAFF of Lao PDR on cooperation in agriculture, forestry and rural development in 2012 and the plan for 2013-2015. In addition to the series of cooperation activities as noted in the Agreement, both Ministers highlighted to importance to bring in private sector as the third party to facilitate commercialization of results from the joint researches such as production of high yield and quality seeds of paddy, corn, cassava.

The ASEAN + 3 (China, Japan and Republic of Korea) Ministers on Agriculture and Forestry held their Eleventh Meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia on 7 October 2011. The Ministers reaffirmed their strong support in advancing cooperation in food, agriculture, and forestry sectors, and welcomed the development of the ASEAN Plus Three Cooperation Strategy Framework consisting of six (6) Strategic Areas, i.e. Strengthening Food Security, Biomass Energy Development, Sustainable Forest Management, Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation, Animal Health and Disease Control and Cross-Cutting Issues.

The ASEAN Ministers on Agriculture and Forestry and the Ministers of Agriculture of the People’s Republic of China, Japan and the Republic of Korea held their Eleventh Meeting in Jakarta on 7 October 2011, under the chairmanship of H.E. Dr. Suswono, Minister of Agriculture, Indonesia.

2.         The Ministers reaffirmed their strong support in advancing cooperation in food, agriculture, and forestry sectors as guided by the Second Joint Statement on East Asia Cooperation and the ASEAN Plus Three Cooperation Work Plan (2007-2017) which implies that linkages between the ASEAN Plus Three Cooperation Work Plan and the AMAF Plus Three cooperation projects should be further enhanced. In order to complement this decision, the Ministers supported and welcomed the development of the ASEAN Plus Three Cooperation Strategy (APTCS) Framework consisting of six (6) Strategic Areas, i.e. Strengthening Food Security, Biomass Energy Development, Sustainable Forest Management, Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation, Animal Health and Disease Control and Cross-Cutting Issues.

To align with the Government’s policy to strengthen and expand international cooperation in agriculture and rural sector with the American countries, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has signed several agreement or memorandum of understanding to enhance cooperation activities with American countries, like Venezuela, Panama, Cuba, Argentina, El Salvador… MARD expected that the enhancement of technical cooperation with American countries would facilitate more information and technological exchange to serve agriculture production in the country, while contributing to the world food security.

Statement by the Minister of MARD Cao Duc Phat at the meeting with key leaders of the Ministry on 3^rd Aug 2011, specified: the past tenure, ARD achieved significant goals in all aspects, thanks for crucial contributions from MARD’s officials, specialists and farmers nationwide and the closed directions from the Party, the Gov and the related Ministries and sectors
In this new tenure, challenges for ARD production are very severe, particularly the unexpected natural disasters, epidemics, input material prices for agriculture production, etc; all these factors are challenges for direction and execution of ARD production.