CẦN THƠ — APEC officials and leaders of agricultural businesses in the region met on Thursday to discuss responsible use of resources that will ensure long-term food production and decent living standards for everyone.

They also discussed the roles of the public and private sectors in this process.

Trần Hồng Hà, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, hailed the private sector for "actively participating in doing research and promoting science and technology application in production, and efficiently using natural and human resources to ensure productivity to meet consumption demands."

The business community’s participation has facilitated the work of authorities in mobilising various social resources, including qualified personnel and diverse financial sources for infrastructure investment and services, modern post-harvest management and other activities, Hà said.

Acknowledging practical benefits of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model, Việt Nam has made great efforts over the last few years to develop and consolidate an enabling environment for it, he said.

Agricultural infrastructure development and services that link production, processing and consumption are areas with high potential for PPP investors, he added.

Phạm Ngô Quốc Thắng, CEO of Lavifood JSC, said that enterprises have received a lot of support from the Government, but needed more.

"The Government has made great efforts to support agricultural processing enterprises. I think this is a great improvement on the domestic side. What we need now is more information about technical barriers [in accessing foreign markets] and new technologies."

Thắng said that he hoped that the forum would help enterprises learn about new technologies from international friends to improve productivity.

Anne Ruston, Australia’s Assistant Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources, stressed the need for open discussions in the region, saying all APEC economies could learn from one another.

She said that though each APEC economy had a different set of circumstances, priorities or objectives, a forum like the current one can guide discussions towards things that they can do along the way like investment in research and development, innovation and technology, and best practices to promote food and sustainability, making sure people in every economy would all have jobs that provides them with standard living conditions.

Policymakers, experts and CEOs attending the forum highlighted challenges preventing the PPP model from realising its full potential.

Grahame Dixie, executive director of World Economic Forum – Grow Asia Initiative, said there were three major challenges that have not been discussed much. 

The first is a platform for public and private sectors to talk more openly to one another, the second, needed policy changes.

"Stability in policy is very important for private-public investments to actually take place."

Finally, implementation of regulations should be far more effective, he said. — VNS

Caption: APEC authorities and Agriculture CEOs on Thursday discussed responsible use of resources to enable long-term food production and ensure decent living standards for all stakeholders. — VNS Photo