Minister Le Minh Hoan said that trademarks are easier to build and protect, but a brand is the consumer's belief in the quality, standards, and consistency of a product.

Supporting production, product consumption, expanding markets for agricultural products and difficulties in lobbying the European Commission to remove the IUU "yellow card" for Vietnamese seafood are two of the issues that delegates are interested in and question in the 36th Session of the National Assembly Standing Committee on the morning of August 21.

At the meeting, delegate Pham Hung Thang (Ha Nam) questioned the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development about solutions to advise the Government to "soon have policies to support production and consumption of agricultural products, expand the market for Vietnamese agricultural products," and asked: "What solutions will the Ministry have to advise the Government to soon complete legal policies on developing brands and trademarks that exclusively own trademarks of key agricultural products of Vietnam?"

Responding to questions from delegates, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan said that the policy of opening the market has been consistent in opening up the consumption of agricultural products from domestic to foreign markets. At the same time, the requirement for standardization of agricultural products is also a big problem for the fragmented, small-scale, and spontaneous agriculture in our country today.

Emphasizing solutions to open up agricultural product consumption, Minister Le Minh Hoan said that recently, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Industry and Trade have continuously had protocols with countries to consume agricultural products in addition to domestic consumption. In particular, the issue of standardizing all agricultural product quality standards is a major issue.

"We cannot talk about market consumption if our goods do not meet market standards. Therefore, we need to pay attention to the issue of code issuance, planting areas, and farming areas. This is a big problem for our country's agriculture," said Minister Le Minh Hoan.

Emphasizing that rebuilding concentrated raw material areas and linking them into strong cooperatives is an important task to overcome the “fragmentation of agriculture,” according to Minister Le Minh Hoan, policies to link small fields into large fields and small forests into large forests need more attention from localities.

“The Ministry has a role in recommending appropriate policies to the Government. Once the policies are in place, action at the local level also needs to be drastic,” said Minister Le Minh Hoan.

According to Minister Le Minh Hoan, developing regional specialty products is also a channel for us to consume processed products, increasing the value of local agricultural products at each level. Up to now, we have more than 13,000 OCOP products. If we do this well, we will relieve market pressure, while creating livelihoods and jobs for farmers.

Regarding the issue of product brands and trademarks, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is also conducting in-depth research on this issue because having a brand will create great added value, but there are still certain difficulties.

Specifically, there is no National Assembly Resolution assigning the Government to issue a resolution on trademarks. In addition, there is still confusion between trademarks and brands.

“It is easier to build and protect a brand, but a brand is the consumer’s belief in the quality, standards, and uniformity of a product. The Ministry is working with the Ministry of Industry and Trade to build a brand for agricultural products. To do so, we must have concentrated raw material areas to have uniform products, standardize key agricultural products, and build an institution to protect the image of Vietnamese agricultural products in the international market,” said the Minister.

Questioning the difficulties in lobbying the European Commission to remove the IUU "yellow card", delegate Tran Thi Nhi Ha (Hanoi) said that in 2024, our country's seafood industry will continue to face many challenges from the market, selling prices to challenges due to trade barriers. Especially in the context that it has been nearly 7 years since Vietnam was warned with a "yellow card" by the European Commission (EC) on seafood activities.

“Up to now, what difficulties and obstacles is the Ministry facing in the process of lobbying the European Commission to remove the IUU “yellow card” and does the Minister have any specific commitments to resolve this issue?” delegate Tran Thi Nhi Ha asked.

Responding to delegates about solutions to remove the IUU "yellow card", Minister Le Minh Hoan said that the main thing is to effectively implement the Vietnam Fisheries Development Strategy to 2030, with a vision to 2045; the Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development Strategy for the 2021-2030 period, with a vision to 2050, which have been approved by the Prime Minister. In which, fisheries development is based on three pillars: Reducing exploitation, increasing aquaculture and conserving the sea to ensure fishery reserves for future generations.

“The solutions to remove the IUU “yellow card” that we have implemented over the past 7 years have had certain results. We have also reorganized the fisheries surveillance system, and currently all 28 coastal localities have fisheries surveillance forces. We have a Resolution of the Supreme People’s Court’s Judicial Council on criminalizing violations related to IUU,” Minister Le Minh Hoan stated.

According to Minister Le Minh Hoan, although the number of fishing vessels has been reduced by 20,000 (from more than 100,000 to 86,000), compared to other countries in the region, the number of fishing vessels in Vietnam is still large, affecting sustainable development.

In the coming time, Vietnam needs to continue to demonstrate its efforts in removing the IUU "yellow card"; coordinate with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Public Security, and the Ministry of National Defense to implement the peak month./.