The second meeting of the Working Group – Main arrangements

Today, talks were held at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in the format of the Polish-Vietnamese Working Group on Cooperation in the Field of Agriculture.

Starting the meeting, Minister Lech Kołakowski stressed the importance of agricultural matters in bilateral relations. He noted that the main purpose of the Polish-Vietnamese dialogue in the field of agriculture is to understand as well as possible the mutual needs.

During the meeting of the Group, a new template of the certificate for poultry meat and its products exported from Poland to Vietnam was agreed. As a result of this, Polish entrepreneurs became able to export goose and duck meat to the Vietnamese market.

The access procedures for beef and highbush blueberry are at the finalisation stage. Deputy Minister Lech Kołakowski expressed his hopes that the negotiations in this area would be completed still this year. He stressed that the successive opening of the Vietnamese market for more Polish products was an activity which strengthened the mutual relations and also a decision which benefited both sides by ensuring smooth trade.

Referring to the state of the bilateral relations in the field of agriculture, Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien stressed that Vietnam treated Poland as a priority. He expressed his satisfaction with the arrangements which had been achieved. He also declared the readiness of Vietnam to engage in the further intensive cooperation between the Ministries.

The area of aquaculture was another important subject matter of the talks. Vietnam is interested in the implementation of joint scientific projects with Polish research institutes. The specific areas of cooperation were discussed during a separate meeting at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The meeting with Polish entrepreneurs of the agri-food sector

During the visit, talks also took place with the representatives of the Polish agri-food sector. The meeting convened at the National Support Centre for Agriculture provided an opportunity to present the promotion activities carried out on the Vietnamese market and also to show the Polish export offer.

The potential for cooperation with Vietnam in the field of agriculture

Vietnam is Poland’s largest partner among the importers of Polish food in the countries of Southeast Asia. However, Poland has a negative balance in its trade in agri-food products with Vietnam (in 2022, minus EUR 150 million).

In 2022, the value of the exports of agri-food products to the Vietnamese market was EUR 154.4 million, growing by about 8% compared with 2021. Poland exports to Vietnam mainly include flour, grits and pellets of meat, offal and fish, fish fillets and other fish meat, poultry meat and edible poultry offal.

Bearing in mind the importance and potential of the Vietnamese market, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development takes a large number of measures to expand the export opportunities for Polish entrepreneurs of the agri-food sector. The intensive dialogue pursued at the level of the leadership of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is complemented with promotion and information events.