Acting Minister Tran Duc Thang receives the Oregon State House of Representatives (USA)

On September 9, in Hanoi, Acting Minister of Agriculture and Environment Tran Duc Thang received and worked with the Oregon State House of Representatives delegation (USA) led by Mr. Daniel Nguyen.

Acting Minister Tran Duc Thang affirmed that 2025 is an important milestone, marking 30 years of establishing diplomatic relations between Vietnam and the United States. Vietnam attaches importance to and highly values cooperation with the United States in the fields of agriculture, forestry, nutrition and environment. Many cooperation activities have been effectively implemented, not only with the US Department of Agriculture but also expanded to states such as Washington and California. Recently, Vietnamese agricultural enterprises and associations have also signed many memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with soybean and corn associations of Iowa, Ohio, Maryland and USABC to promote bilateral trade.

On the Oregon side, Mr. Daniel Nguyen said that Oregon is the second largest agricultural state in the United States, with about 120 crops and many key products such as beef, grain, and animal feed. Every year, about 40% of the state's agricultural output is exported to international markets. Oregon is also a leader in innovation, sustainable development, and climate change response thanks to close coordination between businesses, research institutions, and education.

Acting Minister Tran Duc Thang said that trade is a key area to promote bilateral relations. Vietnam currently imports many agricultural products as well as animal feed and raw materials from around the world each year, but only 1.5 billion USD of which comes from the United States. Since March 2025, the Vietnamese Government has adjusted import taxes to 0% for corn and soybeans, opening up great opportunities for US businesses, including Oregon, the Acting Minister said that this is an opportunity for Oregon to increase exports to the Vietnamese market.

Therefore, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment of Vietnam is ready to sign an MOU with the Oregon State Government on cooperation in agricultural development, promoting agricultural trade, and enhancing exchanges in research, development and green, sustainable agriculture.

In addition, in the field of resource management, the US Government through USAID supported Vietnam with many technical projects. Acting Minister Tran Duc Thang proposed expanding cooperation with Oregon on sharing disaster risk management policies; research and application of technology in forecasting and early warning; ecological restoration and climate change adaptation; exchange and cooperation in the field of education and training and technology transfer.

Khuong Trung