Hanoi, 25 April 2023 – Ministers responsible for food and agriculture from Viet Nam, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Rwanda, St. Vincent and the Grenadines met at a specially convened inter-regional ministerial roundtable today to advance opportunities for sustainable investment, innovation, and digitalization, opportunities in food systems through enhanced South-South cooperation.
Photo: Grow Asia
The event was co-hosted by Viet Nam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in collaboration with Grow Asia and the Food Action Alliance (FAA), in collaboration with leaders from AGRA and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), who yesterday attended a ministerial briefing with the Prime Minister of Viet Nam, Pham Minh Chinh. The delegation, which was led by Grow Asia’s Executive Director, Beverley Postma, discussed common challenges and opportunities for the food and agriculture sector in the global south and stressed the urgency for enhanced South-South Cooperation.
Recognizing the significant opportunity that a framework for South-South Cooperation presents for countries in Africa, Asia, and the Americas, the organizers agreed to use their collective leadership to drive progress on food system transformation on the pathway towards major events that will shape the global food system agenda in the run up to COP28. This includes the UN Food Systems Stocktake Moment, the Africa Food Systems Summit, and the Grow Asia Investment Forum, which will take place in Singapore on 12 September – the official UN Day for South-South Cooperation.
Photo: Grow Asia
About Grow Asia
Grow Asia is a multi-stakeholder platform established in 2015 by the World Economic Forum and the ASEAN Secretariat to cultivate more inclusive, resilient, and sustainable food systems in Southeast Asia. Grow Asia does this by brokering commercial and non-profit partnerships between the global and regional public, private, civil society, academic, and farmer organizations that make up the Grow Asia Network, creating an ecosystem that supports knowledge sharing, collaboration, innovation, and policy change.
Grow Asia comprises the regional Grow Asia Secretariat in Singapore; 6 Country Chapters; and 44 Working Groups, organized around specific cross-cutting issues (e.g., agritech) or value chains (e.g., corn). Today, Grow Asia engages over 640+ partner organizations through its Country Chapters in Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, and Viet Nam, reaching 2.5 million smallholder farmers.
In 2020, Grow Asia was accredited as an Entity Associated with ASEAN due to the important role Grow Asia plays in the region, particularly in facilitating multi-stakeholder partnerships for sustainable agriculture development.
This article was originally published by Grow Asia
