Vietnam has become a global food supply powerhouse

P4G Summit (Hanoi, April 15-17, 2025), themed "Sustainable and people-centered green transition,” is the largest multilateral high-level event on green growth hosted by Vietnam in the 2021-2026 period. Vietnam Agriculture and Nature Newspaper (VAN) will update regularly Vietnam's strong commitments, proactive role and international responsibility at the P4G Summit.

On April 16, on the sidelines of the P4G Summit, Mr. Máximo Torero, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation (FAO) Chief Economist, had a bilateral working session with Deputy Minister Nguyen Minh Hang.

At the meeting, Mr. Torero praised Vietnam's leadership in transforming its agrifood systems. According to the FAO Chief Economist, Vietnam has achieved food self-sufficiency and has become a global food supply powerhouse.

He also commended Vietnam for adopting the National Pathways for Food Systems Transformation and the Program "Sustainable Development of One Million Hectares of High-Quality and Low-Emission Rice in the Mekong Delta by 2030".

Mr. Torero emphasized that the one million hectares of high-quality and low-emmision rice program is an excellent entry point for accelerating the transformation of Vietnam's agrifood systems. It also opens up new business opportunities supported by innovation and public-private partnerships.

At the same time, FAO acknowledged Vietnam's growing engagement in South-South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTC), especially given the country's experience in water management and rice production. 

With these efforts and achievements in transforming its agrifood systems, Vietnam has the potential to expand its production capacities and access new markets by leveraging innovative agricultural practices and technologies, including through the Blue Transformation initiative, Mr. Torero emphasized. 

During the session, FAO representatives reaffirmed their commitment to working with Vietnam, referencing the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed during the visit of the FAO Director-General to Vietnam in February.

"The MoU provides a framework for collaboration between Viet Nam and FAO to further embed their shared goals and objectives with regard to the sharing of technical knowhow, institutional and policy experiences under the SSTC framework," FAO Chief Economist added. 

At the conclusion of the meeting, Mr. Torero invited Vietnam to participate in the FAO Hand-in-Hand Initiative. Under this cooperation framework, Vietnam could provide voluntary and in-kind contributions to FAO and cooperate on joint projects through the Hand-in-Hand initiative, OCOP and SSCT.