The export would be part of Vietnam’s total volume of 100,000 tonnes of rice to be shipped to the African nation in the 2011-2015 period.

The MoU, signed by the two countries’ Ministers of Industry and Trade, will be a legal basis for Vietnam and Sierra Leone to establish stable rice trading linkage, helping develop a strategic partnership on food supply, according to the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Under the document, Vietnam will secure its position as one of the world’s leading rice exporters and proactively engage in maintaining food security in the region and the world, the ministry said.

Sierra Leone is a West African country with a population of 5 million. In recent years, Sierra Leone has expressed interest in importing rice from Vietnam. The African country imported 14,000 tonnes of rice worth US$8.04 million in 2010, accounting for 40 percent of the total imports from Vietnam.

According to the ministry, increasing rice sales to the market will give a boost to Vietnam’s rice exports to Africa, helping build a potential, sustainable export channel to other African countries.