Vietnam, Netherlands exalt smart agricultural collaboration

Vietnam and the Netherlands agreed to promote cooperation in innovation and creative agriculture during a working visit of Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung to the European country from February 21-23.

At a meeting with the Brainport Eindhoven hi-tech park, Dung encouraged Brainport Eindhoven to share experience and promote cooperation with the Vietnam National Innovation Centre (NIC) in order to realise the signed Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation (MoU) and support NIC in applying hi-tech ecosystem and Triple Helix cooperation models which are suitable to Vietnam’s conditions while connecting Dutch enterprises in the field investing in Vietnam, especially in the Hoa Lac hi-tech park.

At the World Horti Centre (WHC), the minister proposed the centre to support and cooperate with Vietnam in building a horticulture centre in the Southeast Asian country's northern region in an attempt to have more opportunities to cooperate, share experience and facilitate technology transfer between the two sides.

On this occasion, the Enterprise Development Agency under the Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment, and the Netherlands-Vietnam Horti Business Platform inked an MoU on empowering Vietnamese small and medium sized enterprises, strengthening cooperation and bolstering joint economic development between the two countries in the field of horticulture.

At a meeting with Lara Muller, Director for Public Sector of Invest International, the two sides reviewed several Netherlands-funded projects in Vietnam, both in the public and private sectors in many areas such as infrastructure, climate, water management, agriculture, garment and textiles, among others.

The director said that the fund is considering aid for a number of potential projects in Vietnam in the fields of coastal protection in Phan Thiet, groundwater replenishment and storage in the Mekong Delta region, and offshore wind power development.

For his part, Dung affirmed that Vietnam has made great efforts to fulfill its commitments at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP 26) while expressing his hope that the fund will continue to support Vietnam’s projects in building an innovation ecosystem at NIC, helping the country in the transformation process of green, digital and knowledge-based economy and sustainable development./.