Vietnam, Australia cooperate in organic food trade

Harvesting coffee in Vietnam (Photo: VNA)

Canberra-based Mekong Organics held a ceremony on September 15 to launch the “Promoting organic food certification & trade between Australia and Vietnam” project which is supported by the Australian Government.

The event was held online with the participation of 150 delegates from the two countries, including representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and the Environment of Australia, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam, and Departments of Agriculture and Rural Development of many Vietnamese localities, and representatives of associations, businesses, cooperatives and many experts in organic agricultural products.

Speaking at the event, Project Manager Nguyen Van Kien, Director of Mekong Organics, said that the project will be carried out from September 2021 to May 2022 with an aim to expanding the production and trade of organic products in the Southeast Asian nation.

The project will conduct training for the Vietnam organic agriculture industry, with 200 participants that are farmers, co-operatives, businesses, government staffs, associations and women about organic food production, certification and trade using experience from the Australian and Vietnamese organic agriculture industry, with the aim of scaling up bilateral trade in this sector.

A series of webinars or forums will be held after each training chapter to promote the organic food trade between Australia and Vietnam.

The project will also develop an online trade forum to promote trade of organic food, certification and technology between the two countries./.