Angola and Vietnam took a new step in strengthening their agricultural ties last week with the signing of their first cooperation memorandum in the sector.
The agreement was announced during a working visit by a Vietnamese delegation from the South-South Agricultural Cooperation Working Group, which took place from December 9 to 14, and was signed with Angola’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.
According to Vietnam Agriculture News (VAN), the partnership is aimed at implementing the Vietnam–Angola Agricultural Cooperation Action Plan for 2025–2030.
This broader action plan was signed in August as part of events marking the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Under the memorandum, both sides committed to rolling out concrete projects during the first three years of the action plan. The projects will focus on rice, cassava, and soybean production, alongside forestry development.
Vietnam will provide technical support by training Angolan technicians in Vietnam and sending its experts to Angola to transfer skills and assist small-scale farmers. Rice production in Lunda Norte province has been identified as a key priority.
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“From December 21 to 27, 2025, Angola will send 10 technical officers to Vietnam to take part in a training program. In return, Vietnam will dispatch a delegation of experts to Angola to assess project implementation conditions, which will serve as the basis for preparing technical reports,” the same source reported.
Vietnam is one of the world’s major players in the rice industry. It ranks as the fifth-largest producer of milled rice globally, behind India, China, Bangladesh, and Indonesia, with production reaching 26.7 million tonnes in the 2024/2025 season.
The country is also the world’s second-largest rice exporter after India, having shipped nearly 7.9 million tonnes to global markets during the same period.
For Angola, the agreement is expected to provide much-needed technical support to modernize its agricultural and forestry value chains.
The government plans to use this cooperation to boost domestic production and gradually reduce its dependence on food imports. Within Southern Africa, Angola is currently the second-largest food importer after South Africa.
Data compiled by UNCTAD show that Angola’s food import spending averaged $2.58 billion per year between 2021 and 2023. Major imported products include palm oil, poultry meat, rice, wheat, wheat flour, and sugar.
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Image Credit: Vietnam Agriclulture
