On 22 September, The Swedish Ambassador Ann Måwe, together with colleagues at the embassy, participated in the webinar organized by the Swedish University of Agriculture Sciences (SLU) on evaluating the collaboration between SLU and partners in Vietnam that was initiated more than 35 years ago.
This collaboration has been part of the research capacity development program funded by Sweden through Sida/SAREC, aimed at strengthening individual and institutional research capacity in areas that contribute to poverty reduction and socio-economic development of Vietnam.
Several positive results which help to transform agriculture and food systems into resilient systems with low carbon emissions towards goals and objectives of Vietnam’s green growth strategy and the national action plan for the implementation of the 2030 sustainable development agenda have been presented and discussed at the webinar.
Ms Hoang Huong Giang, a PhD holder who works at Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development confirmed that the research collaboration program contributed to developing regulations on feed management and the use of antibiotics. Low-cost biogas digesters as part of the Sustainable Livestock-Based Farming Systems Research to produce cooking gas for households consumption helped to reduce carbon emissions. Forestry research was undertaken, to develop fast growing tree species which are now widely used for pulp and timber for furniture industry.
About 50-60 Vietnamese PhDs awarded and over one hundred Vietnamese MSc graduated from the collaboration programs between SLU and Vietnamese universities. Majority of them have returned to their universities and helped develop their own institutions. Mr Le Dinh Phung, Vice Rector, Hue University of Agriculture emphasized that the collaboration led to setting up of a network between actors from different parts of society and institutions in Vietnam with Sweden but also with countries in Asia and Europe. He also suggested joint master training programs between SLU and Hue University and universities in Lao as the continuation for future collaboration.
Several recommendations for future research collaborations between SLU and partners, for example with joint research projects, have been discussed at the webinar. Concrete cooperation proposals between equal partners will be discussed further at the webinar in early October.
Ambassador Ann Måwe sent her most sincerely congratulations to SLU and partners for their fruitful and mutually reinforcing collaboration and wanted to see this partnership sustained and flourished in years to come. She also signaled the embassy’s wish to be part in future discussions and possible activities, with the aim of contributing to the Sustainable Developments Goals.
