Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam and Australia have reached a consensus on establishinga joint working group this year to bolster farming trade and cooperationbetween the sides.

Theagreement was reached during their agriculture policy dialogue on November 22and 23.

At thefunction, David John Parker, Australian Deputy Secretary of Agriculture andWater Resources, said the group should be established as soon as possible sothat it could work on prioritized contents agreed by both sides and producepractical results in the next six months.

He assignedAmy Guihot, agricultural trade counselor at the Australian Embassy in Vietnam,to coordinate with relevant Vietnamese agencies in the establishment of thejoint working team.

On theVietnamese side, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le QuocDoanh tasked the Department of International Cooperation with working with theAustralian side in setting up the group by the year’s end.   

He said thegroup would deliver advice on the trade of farming products, technical barriersand animal and plant quarantine processes.

At thedialogue, both sides came up with proposals to give a boost to bilateral tradeof agricultural products.

Guihot said access to each other’s fruit andvegetable market should be a priority for both countries.  

Vietnam,meanwhile, reiterated its wish to access the Australian market of live seafood,particularly shrimp and basses.

The marketfor forestry products was also high on the agenda, with Vietnam suggestingbuilding detailed guidelines with the involvement of the business community inorder to promote the trade of timber and other forestry products.

Otherissues mentioned at the meeting were policies in managing drought and waterresources./.