By Junex Doronio
MANILA — For five years, the Philippines can be assured of a steady supply of rice from Vietnam as President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on the country’s behalf will formally sign a rice deal with Vietnam.
This was disclosed on Tuesday (16 Jan 2024) by Department of Agriculture Secretary Francisco “Kiko” Tiu Laurel saying the agreement will be forged when the Chief Executive travels to Vietnam by the end of January.
“Pagdating ng trip this coming end of January, state visit to Vietnam, mapipirmahan na. We have the working draft already. It’s almost done,” Tiu Laurel said.
He added that PBBM had instructed agriculture officials to draft a memorandum of agreement during an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting in Japan, Tiu Laurel said in a press conference in Malacañang.
“It guarantees that they will be supplying us rice continuously even sa calamity situations,” the Agriculture Department chief said.
It was learned that Marcos Jr. and Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh first agreed on the cooperation deal on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit in Indonesia last year.
“Our two countries will conclude an inter-government agreement on rice trade so that our rice export to the Philippines will ensure food security in the Philippines,” the Vietnamese leader then told Marcos Jr.
He stressed: “We look forward to having a stable framework of cooperation on rice trade for a long period of at least 5 years… With that, we can ensure our production and you can also ensure imports from Vietnam.”
(el Amigo/MNM)
