Collaboration in Developing Agriculture Science and Technology between Vietnam and Korea with VietKoRAA

As one of 08 members of the U-KoRAA network established and supported by the Rural Development Administration of Korea (RDA), VietKoRAA from its early establishment (December 20, 2004) has contributed significantly in promoting sustainable agricultural and rural development in Vietnam. Its main activities include receiving and transffering advanced agricultural technologies from Korea throung implemeting small projects, human resource training, organizing short training courses; and set up databases on technologies in the form of digitalized “Knowledge Banks” to disseminate on the internet.

Overview of the 3rd Congress of VietKoRAA
 

At the Congress, beside the 2nd term reviewed report, delegates also were introduced with many valuable presentations such as  the process of economic development in general and agriculture as well as agricultural science and technology in particular of Korea; Lessons learn for Vietnam in agriculture and rural development.

Over the past 27 years, since establishing diplomatic relation on December 22, 1992, the relationship between Vietnam and Korea have reached  the level of strategic cooperation partnership and spread across all sectors. Since 2011, Korea has always maintained its position as the largest foreign investor in Vietnam. In 2017, trade turnover of the two countries reached US$64 billion and try to reach US$100 billion by 2020 as the commitment of the two countries' leaders during the visit to Vietnam in 2018 of the Korean President Moon Jae-in.

Vietnam is currently the fourth largest trading partner of Korea. In contrast, Korea is Vietnam's second largest trading partner, just after China. It can be seen that the cooperation between Vietnam and Korea has grown tremendously. In addition to economy and trade, cooperation in training human resources, science, technology, culture and tourism have developed at a high speed.

In agriculture, many advanced technologies for breeding varieties, conserving genetic resources, technology for preserving and processing agricultural products of Korea are widely applied. Korea is also the country that provides Vietnam with many short and long-term training scholarships to enhance human resources. The model of "New Village" (Seamaul undong) of Korea, launched in the 1970s has been very successful and is being studied and applied effectively by the National Target Program for New Rural Development of Vietnam.

Korea is the country with a model of economic development in general and agriculture, rural areas in particular are very similar to Vietnam. As a resource-poor country, the domestic market is small, domestic accumulation is small, but over a quarter of a century, Korea has successfully industrialized and became a new industrialized country (NICS). Within 30 years (1960-1990) Korea had an average GDP growth of 9.58% / year and 14 years of over 10%, the highest of 14.8% (1973); GDP per capita increased from US$87 in 1960 to US$32,770 in 2018. Korea's economic development success is called "Han River Miracle". Therefore, Vietnam always considers Korea as a model to study in many fields.

Korea always emphasizes the particularly important role of Science and Technology in agriculture and rural development. Only the Rural Development Administration (RDA), the partner of VietKoRAA, has a number of researchers and extension workers of 1,849 people and the budget allocated in 2018 was 938.1 billion won (equivalent to US$820 million). Therefore, the cooperation with Korean research institutions to transfer technology into Vietnam is a very effective shortcut solution.

In the coming time, VietKoRAA will develop more strongly the scope of sharing experiences and transfering new technologies with the priority on preservation, processing, high-tech supplies, functional product production ... from Korea and other countries to Vietnam through training, training and communication. The association will also try to expand links with other associations and professional organizations, Vietnamese and Korean enterprises to operate effectively.

In addition, there are about 170,000 Vietnamese people living and working in Korea and vice versa, about 150,000 Korean ones are living in Vietnam. If connecting this force effectively, especially businesses, the role of VietKoRAA is even higher.

The Congress elected the 3rd term Executive Committee of 13 people led by Mr. Nguyen Van Bo, former Director General of Science and Technology Department, MARD; former President of Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences, as the VietKoRAA President.

Some Pictures at the Congress:

Mr. Chu Van Chuong, Deputy Director of International Cooperation Department, MARD, gave the opening speech of the Congress

Mr. Choi Bong Soon, the first Agriculture Attache of Korean Embassy in Vietnam delivered a welcome speech at the Congress

Mr. Le Duc Thinh, Director General of Department of Economic Cooperation and Rural Development, MARD, spoke at the Congress

Launching the Executive Committee of the third term (2019 - 2024) of VietKoRAA