Vietnam puts forward four proposals for food security cooperation at APEC

Vietnam has tabled four proposals at the APEC Food Security Ministers’ Meeting in South Korea, highlighting the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in agriculture and food systems.

On August 10 in Incheon, the meeting was chaired by South Korea’s Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Song Mi Ryung under the theme “Building a Sustainable Future: Connecting, Innovating, Prospering.”

Representing Vietnam, Acting Minister of Agriculture and Environment Tran Duc Thang delivered a keynote on “Vietnam’s policies to foster innovation in the agriculture–food system and key challenges to be addressed to share best practices and achieve common prosperity in the region.”

He underscored that food security in APEC economies is vital for regional and global prosperity. For an agricultural country like Vietnam, where over 60% of the population lives in rural areas, food security goes beyond sufficient supply to ensuring quality, safety, social stability, poverty reduction, sustainable development, and maintaining its position as a major agricultural exporter.

Vietnam, he said, views innovation as a pillar for modernizing agriculture and ensuring food security for its 100 million people. Three significant policies are in place: the National Action Plan on food system transformation toward “smart production, fair distribution, healthy consumption”; a one-million-hectare high-quality, low-emission rice program for export and emissions reduction; and the “One Commune, One Product” (OCOP) program to promote digital transformation, enabling remote farmers to reach global markets through e-commerce.

At the regional level, Acting Minister Tran Duc Thang noted that with nearly 3 billion people and many economies reliant on agriculture, APEC plays a critical role in promoting technical cooperation, agricultural trade, and green, sustainable, inclusive food system transformation. However, cross-border challenges remain, such as technology and innovation gaps, a lack of data connectivity and common standards, trade barriers, new food safety requirements, and divergent definitions of “green, clean” food.

To address these, Vietnam proposed four solutions: Establishing an APEC Innovation Center for Agricultural and Food System Transformation in a developing member economy to share technologies, models, and best practices; 

Developing standard criteria for sustainable and innovative food products within APEC to promote transparent, seamless agricultural trade; 

Creating a fund to support farmers in adopting innovation, ensuring equitable access to technology; 

Expanding academic exchanges, agricultural internships, and institutional innovation among member economies.

Quoting former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung,“History belongs not to the strong, but to those who innovate at the right time”, he called for APEC to “ignite the flame of innovation so that every farmer, every product, and every meal carries the value of creativity, harmony with nature, and shared prosperity.”

Vietnam urges APEC to harness AI for agriculture and food

In a session on AI-driven innovation in agriculture and food, Vietnam emphasized AI’s importance as a key to food security amid climate change, land degradation, population growth, and inequality.

 Acting Minister Tran Duc Thang said AI is not just a technology but a tool to reshape the entire value chain - from farming to processing, distribution, and consumption.

Vietnam proposed three steps for APEC cooperation: Building a shared, open database linking climate, production, disease, and market data across member economies under the APEC framework; Issuing APEC guidelines on AI use in agriculture to safeguard data and privacy without stifling innovation; Strengthening links among startups, businesses, and innovation hubs, with Vietnam ready to co-host the “APEC AI Innovation Forum in Food and Agriculture” in Hanoi in 2026 with the Policy Partnership on Food Security (PPFS).

“Innovation is the guiding light, but for its rays to spread, we need data connectivity, technology sharing, and trust,” he said, citing a Korean proverb: “It takes many hands for a harvest to succeed.”

He concluded that each APEC economy is “one hand” in planting AI “seeds,” nurturing innovation, and harvesting shared prosperity for over 3 billion people in the region, contributing to global well-being.

Thanh Trung