Vietnam has potential of exporting agro-products to Canada: minister

Canadian Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Lawrence Macaulay pays attention to a reporter’s question at the press conference in Ho Chi Minh City on March 3, 2017. Photo: Dong Nguyen/ Tuoi Tre News

Vietnam holds the potential to export numerous quality agricultural products to Canada, Canadian Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Lawrence Macaulay affirmed in Ho Chi Minh City on Friday.

One of the advantages of Vietnam is having climate different from Canada’s and therefore could provide different products at different times Canadian consumers need, the minister said at a press meeting within the framework of his trade promotion trip to Vietnam from February 25 to March 3.

“You have products that we can and will buy,” he told reporters in Ho Chi Minh City.

“Vietnam is the world’s second coffee producer with great quality, we don’t produce coffee; we buy your coffee.”

According to Minister MacAulay, Vietnam needs to show Canada what the country has, especially fruits as he once tried during the time in Hanoi and highly appreciated for their quality.

“Basically what I hope when I was here is to open the door wider, to make sure that Vietnam understands that Canadian wants to deal with you, as well as Canadians understand that you have these products,” he said.

The Canadian minister also highlighted that Vietnam is a very important market to Canadian agriculture products, and “that’s why the Prime Minister sent me here.”

MacAulay has also met with Vietnamese enterprises which import products from Canada in Ho Chi Minh City.

“Your middle class is expanding rapidly all the time,” he said.

“They want good and safe food, we have good and safe food.”

Earlier, in Hanoi, Minister MacAulay announced that Canada will provide Vietnam with CAD 15 million (US$11.2 million) to strengthen food safety. 

From 2012 to 2015, the bilateral trade in agricultural and food products between Canada and Vietnam rose 244 percent to CAD356 million (US$266 million).

In 2016, Canadian firms exported more than CAD261 million (US$195 million) worth of agricultural goods and seafood products to Vietnam.

The main Canadian export products to Vietnam included beef, seafood, oil seeds, cereals, and such fruits as apples and cherries.