The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the People’s Government of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China on September 16 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on agricultural cooperation in China’s Nanning city.

Under the MoU, the two sides agreed to jointly develop cooperation in agriculture and rural development as well as promote trade and investment in the agricultural sector, toward the goals of achieving sustainable growth in agro-fishery trade and investment in agriculture between the two countries, and forming and developing cross-border farm produce supply chains with the involvement of businesses from both countries within the next three years.

The two sides will focus on strengthening cooperation in agriculture and rural development, accelerating customs clearance of agro-fishery goods, promoting the development of trade and investment in agricultural and aquatic products, and forming a mechanism to serve businesses and the market.

Specifically, they will increase the exchange of and cooperation in modern farming and breeding techiques, while boosting collaboration in researching, carrying out and encouraging the use of agricultural machinery and equipment.

They will coordinate to upgrade the monitoring of the quality and safety of agr-fishery products, and tighten cooperation in the prevention and control of animal diseases and crop pests, and provide mutual support to improve capacity of animal and plant disease prevention and control in border areas.

Besides, human resources training, and the exchange and cooperation between agricultural universities and related vocational training schools are encouraged.

The MoU also mentions the upgrade and improvement border gate infrastructure to effectively serve the China-Vietnam cross-border agricultural, forestry, and fishery trade, as well as facilitation for enterprises of the two countries to cooperate, and build mutually beneficial cross-border supply chains and industry chains to increase trade and investment.

The signing ceremony took place on the occasion of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s trip to China to attend the 20th China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) and the China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit (CABIS), held in Nanning city, Guangxi province.

VNA