Vietnam – important strategic partner of East Flanders
PSNews-East Flanders Province (Belgium) considers Vietnam an important partner, said Mr. Geert Versnick, Vice Governor of East Flanders at a press conference organized on March 6.
Mr. Geert Versnick said that the selection of Vietnam as an investment partner was inspired by the success stories of University of Ghent (Belgium) in scientific cooperation with Vietnam in the field of aquaculture 35 years ago. At that time, Ghent University collaborated with Can Tho University to raise Artemia, a kind of larvae commonly used in aquaculture and salt production in the Mekong Delta. This was a small scale project but marked the first step of the long-standing cooperation between East Flanders and Vietnam.
 |
| Mr. Geert Versnick, Vice Governor of East Flanders |
In the first years of cooperation, East Flanders and Vietnam focused on a wide range of industries. However, since 2011, the two sides have made a clear choice to focus their cooperation in agriculture and horticulture in the province of Lam Dong, where such projects have increased profitability for local farmers by 25 times. Particularly it helped the profit from tomato planting project increase four times compared to the past. In particular, in December 2016, East Flanders province signed a cooperation agreement with the Municipal People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City in the fields of agriculture, horticulture and animal husbandry.
According to Versnick, Vietnam's agriculture is still facing various challenges. Specifically, Vietnam is only in the early stages of applying modern technology to production; in other words, farms are subject to technical and technological constraints. To this end, East Flanders province has sent many experts and scientists to Vietnam to support and improve the quality of products for years, helping farmers gain more access to the best companies and research centers in Belgium.
 |
| A cooperation project implemented in Lam Dong |
In the future, in addition to husbandry, East Flanders province will gradually transfer to Vietnam the technology in breeding blue-white cow breeds, the most economical breed in cows in the world. In addition, East Flanders also wants to expand its cooperation with Vietnam in other sectors such as shipping and port logistics.
In addition, East Flanders is helping Vietnam address challenges posed by ongoing saltwater intrusion process in the Mekong Delta.
