The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Cao Duc Phat and the Danish Ambassador for Vietnam John Nielsen on Dec 20, signed a 12-month extension for the DKK 230 million agriculture and rural development Sector Programme.
The Programme supports five provinces, Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Dien Bien, Lai Chau and Lao Cai with sector budget support to develop agricultural projects and support for the Ethnic Minorities, the poor and women in each province.
In addition the programme works with two MARD agencies, the Institute for Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development (IPSARD) and the Department of Science, Technology and Environment (DSTE) in linking provincial needs and support to policy development at the central level.
The one year extension of the programme will allow all partners to further extend, expand and finalise their activities and concentrate on capturing and evaluating the impact of the support over the last five years.
In addition the two countries agreed to further strengthen the commercial linkages within the agriculture and rural development sector next year.
Minster Phat thanked the Ambassador and the Danish people for their continued support to agriculture and rural development in Vietnam.
Ambassador Nielsen welcomed the continued cooperation with the Ministry, its agency and the five provinces and looked forward to strengthening the commercial ties with the food and agricultural sector in the future.
[box]Original news source: http://vietnam.um.dk/en/about-us/news-from-the-embassy/newsdisplaypage/?newsID=6A811D36-B1B2-4A8E-83C0-794C8E66509C[/box]
