On the afternoon of June 6 (local time) in Washington, D.C., Vietnam’s Minister of Agriculture and Environment Do Duc Duy participated in a high-level roundtable with representatives from leading U.S. companies and corporations under the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council (USABC).
The event marked the final stop in the Vietnamese delegation’s working visit to the United States and signaled a strong start to an increasingly robust agricultural partnership between the two countries.
During the session, eight cooperation agreements were signed, with a combined value of USD 1.1 billion. When including previously signed memoranda of understanding (MoUs) in Iowa, Ohio, and Maryland, Vietnam’s total commitment to importing U.S. agricultural products now approaches USD 3 billion.
The largest deal signed was a USD 380 million agreement between Khai Anh Binh Thuan Joint Stock Company and Cargill Group. Under the agreement, the Vietnamese company will import 1.2 million tons of U.S. grains, including corn, wheat, and soybean meal, for animal feed production.
Minister Do Duc Duy and USABC Chairman Ted Osius witnessed the MOU signing ceremony between Khai Anh Binh Thuan Joint Stock Company and Cargill Group. Seven other major agreements were also concluded, involving Thien But Company with Lamex Food Group and Niceland Foods; RYL Food Joint Stock Company with Sea2Asia; IMEX CDC Joint Stock Company with Niceland Foods and Intervision Foods; The Handicraft and Wood Industry Association of Ho Chi Minh City (HAWA) with Kember Interiors; and Northeast Timber and Lumber LLP with Vitana Co., Ltd.
Speaking at the event, Minister Do Duc Duy affirmed: “This working trip has been a great success, producing efficient and positive outcomes for both sides.”
Ted Osius, President of USABC and former U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam, noted that he had closely followed the delegation’s visit through American media coverage. He welcomed the strong results and emphasized that USABC had mobilized resources to support the Vietnamese delegation’s activities fully.
“The agreements signed today, and throughout this mission, are a testament to the thriving partnership between our two nations”, Mr. Osius said. “They also open up new avenues for collaboration between two agricultural sectors that are highly complementary.”
Iowa was the delegation’s first destination. There, Vietnamese enterprises signed four trade agreements worth USD 800 million to import major agricultural commodities such as corn, soybeans, and meat over the next three years.
On June 4 in Ohio, under the witness of Vietnamese officials and representatives from local agricultural associations, additional contracts valued at over USD 600 million were signed to purchase corn, corn by-products, and soybeans.
The delegation made a brief stop in Maryland on the morning of June 6, where technical departments under the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment oversaw signing further trade deals worth approximately USD 300 million. These focused on the import of meat and agricultural goods from U.S. suppliers.