Minister Nguyen Hong Dien attends the Ministerial Meeting of the Group of Agricultural Exporting Countries

On February 25, 2024, on the sidelines of the 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Vietnamese delegation led by Minister Nguyen Hong Dien attended the Ministerial meeting of the Group of Agricultural Exporting Countries (Cairns Group).

Bộ trưởng Nguyễn Hồng Diên tham dự Phiên họp Bộ trưởng Nhóm các nước xuất khẩu nông sản

Ministerial meeting of the Group of Agricultural Exporting Countries (Cairns Group) held on the sidelines of the 13th WTO Ministerial Conference

At the meeting, the countries noted that agricultural negotiations are at an important stage. Among the issues that the WTO is promoting negotiations, agriculture is the most important area, and agricultural trade reform is considered the "health" of the multilateral trading system as well as the process of building global trade rules in the future. Therefore, at the meeting, the countries agreed to closely coordinate with industry associations in the process of building these reforms.

The meeting also witnessed the consensus of Member countries on promoting progress in all three pillars of the Agreement on Agriculture, namely domestic support, market access and export competitiveness, to ensure balance in the reform process and promote fair agricultural trade.

Speaking at the meeting, Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien acknowledged and emphasized the importance of agriculture in ensuring social security, food security and socio-economic development of each country. A well-growing agricultural sector and healthy agricultural trade will ensure the stability of the world economy, especially in the context that many countries are still in the recovery phase after the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, Minister Nguyen Hong Dien also said that the results achieved by WTO members in reforming agricultural regulations in recent times are still very modest and have many limitations. For example, domestic support has distorted trade, market access is limited and export competition is unfair.

" As an active member of the WTO and the Cairns Group, Vietnam calls on all members to commit to achieving a more open, market-oriented and equal playing field in agricultural trade ," said Minister Nguyen Hong Dien.

To achieve the above goal, the Minister of Industry and Trade of Vietnam said that it is necessary to summarize the work that has been and is being implemented at the WTO to serve as a basis for developing the content and next steps.

Minister Nguyen Hong Dien and delegates took a photo on the sidelines of the Ministerial Meeting of the Group of Agricultural Exporting Countries (Cairns Group)

Minister Nguyen Hong Dien affirmed that Vietnam always welcomes new initiatives as well as efforts to promote negotiations for common interests, on the basis of being appropriate to the development level and implementation capacity of economies. These contents must be appropriate to the development level and implementation capacity of economies, must be feasible and not create burdens due to new obligations.

At the same time, Vietnam pledges to continue to closely coordinate with other members of the Cairns Group to strive to achieve concrete results in priority areas to support the development of the multilateral trading system.

" Vietnam believes that this Cairns Group Ministerial Meeting will achieve more substantive results, contributing to promoting fair agricultural trade, " Minister Nguyen Hong Dien expected.

The Cairns Group of Agricultural Exporting Countries was established in 1986 in Cairns, Australia, with the aim of lobbying and implementing activities to promote agricultural trade liberalization. Vietnam has become an official member of the Cairns Group since 2013.

From February 26 to February 29, 2024, the Vietnamese delegation led by Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien will attend the 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Nguyen Minh - Updated from Abu Dhabi - Capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Source