The Vietnamese Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính and the Minister of Agriculture Le Minh Hoan are visiting the Netherlands this week together with the largest delegation of Vietnamese government officials in history.
One of delegation’s first stops is at Dutch World Horti Center in Naaldwijk to be introduced to high-tech Dutch horticulture technologies. Vietnamese Prime-Minister Phạm Minh Chính interviewed different representatives from the horticulture and fresh produce sectors about the marketability of fresh produce on the international markets.
Sieben van Wijk meets with Vietnamese Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính
Siebe van Wijk from Vietnamese-Dutch The Fruit Republic met with the Prime Minister and the Minister from Agriculture. The Fruit Republic is largest citrus fruit export from Vietnam. Siebe is enthusiastic about the visit from the delegation: "The Prime Minister was happy and proud to see the success we created with Vietnamese pomelo and lime on the international world market. The EU market accounts for 70% of our exports. Other important markets for us are the Australia, Middle East, Canada and the United States.
Minister Hoan, who comes from Dong Thap province himself, was delighted to see the seedless limes from his region marketed in boxes of The Fruit Republic. We could tell they were enthusiastic and proud to see their national products marketed successfully in Europe."
Vietnamese Minister of Agriculture Le Minh Hoan admires Vietnamese seedless pomelos for the European market
"We extended an invitation to the Prime Minister and Agriculture Minister to visit The Fruit Republic in Can Tho. Here we can discuss how the fruit sector in the Mekong Delta can be developed and scaled. An important development for which the industry needs support from the government would be to obtain market access to Japan and South Korea. These large consumer markets import citrus from all over the world, but Vietnamese citrus can not yet enter these high potential markets. Shipping from Vietnam to Japan or Korea is only 7 days, while many other countries who export to these markets require 3-4 weeks of shipping. Also market access to Australia for Vietnamese citrus would be very interesting," concludes Siebe.
Later in the week the Vietnamese delegation will travel through to Brussel for a meeting between the EU and ASEAN.
For more information:
Siebe van Wijk
The Fruit Republic
www.thefruitrepublic.com