ASEAN countries, partners discuss farm-forestry-fishery trade

In opening the SOM +3, Director of the International Cooperation Department under Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Tran Kim Long said the ASEAN Plus Three strategy on cooperation in food, agriculture and forestry in 2011-2015 had been successfully implemented. Therefore, the AMAF and the Ministers of Agriculture of China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (AMAF +3) have decided to launch a strategy for 2016-2025. 

Long noted that the new strategy is designed to promote joint actions towards the goal of ensuring food security and people’s life, while encouraging sustainable development in agriculture and forestry, increasing trade in agricultural and fishery products, and addressing difficulties and challenges facing ASEAN +3 countries in the fields. 

The official appreciated cooperative projects launched by ASEAN +3 to assist member countries in realising development targets such as building capacity, narrowing development gap, reducing poverty and bolstering trade in agricultural, forestry and fishery products among ASEAN +3 countries. 

The SOM listened to reports on ASEAN +3 cooperation in food, agriculture and forestry, and discussed a protocol revising the agreement on ASEAN Plus Three Emergency Rice Reserve (APTERR). The meeting also considered the content of a Memorandum of Understanding between ASEAN and China on cooperation in agriculture and food, and another MoU between ASEAN and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) on enhancing cooperation in agriculture and forestry, which are scheduled to be signed on October 12.