Vietnam's government and private sector unite for agricultural growth

The Vietnamese government, together with 12 global companies, launches a public-private task force to advance sustainable agricultural growth.

The task force is a result of discussions at the two-day World Economic Forum (WEF) on East Asia that concluded in Ho Chi Minh City on June 7. As part of a New Vision for Agriculture Initiative, the task force will take an innovative approach to improve food security and agricultural sustainability nationwide, the Swiss-based WEF said.

"As the first of its kind in Vietnam, the task force will work to coordinate and leverage public and private sector investments in agriculture to increase high-quality production while benefiting farmers," the WEF pointed out.

"The task force will operate both on a strategic level, exchanging best practice and addressing policy issues and on an operational level, working to scale effective initiatives by combining public and private sector capacities," the WEF added.

"Government and business share the same goal: we both want to see strong and sustainable growth in Vietnam's agriculture sector. We have identified a number of ways in which we can work together more effectively towards that goal," said Cao Duc Phat, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.

"Growing Asian demand for food means we must increase both production and quality to meet that growth while operating within the constraints of climate change. If companies combine efforts with the government and each other, we can operate more effectively along the full value chain," said Frans Muller, Member of the Management Board of METRO Group and Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum on East Asia.

The task force will work to develop an initial action plan in the coming six months for presentation at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2011 in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland.