Your Excellency Mr. Hoang Trung, Vice Minister of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, 
Mr. Nguyen Quoc Toan, Director of the Central for Agriculture Digital Transformation and Statistics, 
Esteemed speakers and experts in MARD and Provinces, UN agencies, NGOs and Private Sector

Distinguished guests, 
Ladies and gentlemen,
Xin Chao and a very Good morning!
I am pleased to join Vice Minister Hoang Trung in extending a warm welcome to each of you at today's conference, focused on "Digital Transformation for Green and Sustainable Agriculture."

Allow me to start by acknowledge your actively roles and valuable experience to deploy digital technologies in many cooperation initiatives with MARD or local provinces. We share one common vision of a green and sustainable agriculture development. We believe there are cutting-edge digital solutions to boost environmentally friendly and low carbon agriculture practices across the entire agriculture systems and their value chains.

Ladies and gentlemen, 
Viet Nam has gained many outstanding achievements and development in the field agriculture economy and rural development. In 2022, despite the impacts of covid-19, climate change and other challenges, agriculture export reached a record at 52.22 billion USD, an increase of 9.3% compared to 2021; trade surplus of over 8.5 billion USD. As agriculture economy growth, the sector also increasingly shares large portion of GHG emission in Viet Nam.

Since 2015, the agriculture sector in Viet Nam embraced two major global trends, the Fourth Industrial Revolution - Industry 4.0 and the global climate crisis. Viet Nam has made transformational steps to advance climate smart agriculture since the Paris Agreement in 2015. However, tens of millions of farmers in Viet Nam are pertinently exposing to the impacts of climate extreme. Many of them may be unlikely to adapt with the current speed of global warming. In July 2023 alone, the global temperatures have broken records three times in a week. It is vital that Viet Nam join global action to cut GHG emission, and therefore, agriculture sector needs to reduce its share of carbon emissions too.

Today, I am excited to hear on the work that UNDP and MARD teams have been working over the past two years to establish an innovative e-traceability system to track the GHG emissions in two major agriculture export commodities – dragon fruits and shrimp. I believe this is the first time Vietnamese agriculture product can be tracked for its origin and carbon footprints throughout. I truly hope in the near future, MARD can promote the applications of digital systems in managing carbon footprints for all key export industries. In the context of the green transition in agriculture, this becomes an essential tool for local producers and businesses in Vietnam to track and manage the CO2 emission level of the supply chain to avoid unnecessary restrictions on exports to high-end markets, where the carbon-border adjustment mechanism is on the rise.

I also strongly believe if we promote innovation and systematic application of cutting-edge digital solutions, the agriculture sector of Viet Nam will be more competitive. As Viet Nam applies carbon footprint traceability system for all farms and production regions, local and international consumers can transparently scan the QR code to trace the produce's origin and the levels of 'green' or environmentally friendly practices applied during its production. Such green labelling will make Viet Nam commodities stands out with environment and “green” competitive advantages. A green label is a “proxy” certification of compliance to international quality standards on environment, nature, ecological protection vis a vis food safety.

As we make progress in digitalisation for green agriculture, UNDP sees the importance of data governance and international cooperation in collecting and managing data for green and sustainable development in Vietnam's agricultural sector. Whilst many of us have engaged with a wide range of stakeholders in different agriculture value chains, we have not been able to have a common - open platform for agri-businesses and stakeholders to promote green initiatives, climate smart practices and track green and responsible business operation for climate causes. We would like to work with MARD and you all to establish an Agriculture Hub for Green agriculture commodities in Viet Nam. The hub serves and connects information data for all farmers and businesses. In such endeavour, the application of digitalisation, the harmonization of data inputs and the pooling of investment in some key cutting-edge technologies are essential to make this platform possible.

At COP26 Viet Nam commits to reduce methane by 30% by 2030 as well as halt and reverse deforestation and land degradation by 2030 and aiming to reach net-zero by 2050. This conference is a good opportunity to stock take the experience and lessons that we have learnt for digital transformation while responding to climate change. I would like to take this unique opportunity to encourage us to discuss the pathway Viet Nam can harnessing digital transformation to drive for low carbon or green sustainable agricultural practices. The knowledge exchange and partnerships that we can form during these conversations will undoubtedly play a key help to MARD in setting up the Agriculture Hub. Consequently, it paves the way for innovations that bring competitive agriculture products across the borders of high-end export markets.

Ladies and gentlemen, 
As we are looking for a transformative roadmap for digital transformation for green and resilient agriculture, let us keep in mind the critical role each of us plays in shaping the future of this sector. I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to your presence and insights today. Together, let us harness the power of digital transformation to nurture a greener and more sustainable agricultural landscape that will benefit generations to come.

I wish our conference today a success. Xin cam on va chuc suc khoe!