Digital transformation vital to agricultural development: Minister

To achieve its ambition to become a modernity-oriented industrialised nation by 2030 and a developed country with high income by 2045, Vietnam must succeed in the digital transformation process, in which agriculture is one of the priority areas, Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son said on September 16.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son speaking at the event

Son made the statement at the Vietnam Agricultural Digital Transformation International Forum 2021 which was co-organized via videoconference by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Vietnam Digital Agriculture Association (VIDA), and e-newspaper VnExpress under the theme “Keeping up with market trends, ensuring the pivotal role of the economy during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The forum was an activity within the framework of the Vietnam International Agricultural Exhibition 2021 (AgriTech Expo 2021).

Attending the event were representatives of foreign diplomatic agencies in Vietnam and representatives of a number of research institutes, socio-economic organisations, domestic and foreign experts in the field of agricultural digital transformation from Japan, the Netherlands, Israel, and the World Bank as well as those from business associations and enterprises.

The minister said that the Vietnamese Government had soon identified the importance of proactively and actively participating in the fourth Industrial Revolution and the urgent requirement of speeding up the digital transformation process, considering it as a vital solution and an opportunity to make a breakthrough in socio-economic development.

Speaking at the event, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan pledged to offer all resources and the most favorable policies for businesses wishing to bring added value to Vietnamese agricultural products and improve their trademarks.

At the event

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development would strongly support the digital transformation process and replacing agricultural technology models because the Vietnamese agricultural sector is not only the “backbone” of the economy in difficult times, but was also a measurement of sustainability of the country, he said.

The forum consisted of two discussions that focus on policy orientations and the theme “Shaping Vietnam’s digital agriculture until 2035” with the presentation of 20 speakers representing local authorities and leaders of businesses and corporations.

Participants at the event shared scenarios of Vietnam’s agricultural digital transformation by 2035, key issues in Vietnam’s agricultural development strategies towards digitization given complicated effects from the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain disruption and climate change.

Source: VNA