President of the Republic of Sierra Leone visit Can Tho City

On the afternoon of March 18, 2022, during the working program in the Mekong Delta, President Julius Maada Bio, the First Lady, and high-ranking delegation of the Republic of Sierra Leone visited the An Do Duong seafood processing factory (a sub-company of Nam Viet Group) and the Mekong Delta Rice Institute in Can Tho City. Vice Chairman of the City People's Committee Nguyen Ngoc He joined to welcome the delegation.

At the An Do Duong seafood processing factory, President Julius Maada Bio, the First Lady, and high-ranking delegation of the Republic of Sierra Leone listened to a brief introduction about the factory and was guided to visit the Pangasius processing and production line at Thot Not Industrial Park. In the previous program in An Giang province, Nam Viet Group had signed a cooperation agreement with the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources of Sierra Leone in the field of fisheries.

At the Mekong Delta Rice Institute, President Julius Maada Bio listened to Dr. Tran Ngoc Thach, Director, introduce the establishment and development of the Institute and its contributions to scientific research on rice in the Mekong Delta region. Dr. Tran Ngoc Thach outlined some of the Institute's main achievements related to the development of 180 varieties of OM rice grown on 4.2 million hectares of fields in the Mekong Delta. Besides, the Rice Institute has also developed and transferred 25 new technologies to farmers and agricultural machinery products.

Director Tran Ngoc Thach also raised a number of challenges related to climate change for rice cultivation in the Mekong Delta, such as drought, saline intrusion, etc., from which the Institute's development orientation towards high-yielding rice varieties that meet export requirements and withstand the effects of climate change.

President Julius Maada Bio, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Sierra Leone highly appreciated the achievements in the field of agricultural research of the Mekong Delta Rice Research  Institute, and wishes to develop cooperation relationship with the Institute through support in capacity building for agricultural staff, technology transfer on rice varieties, development of irrigation systems, and agricultural mechanization in rice production.

Nam Viet Corporation representative is briefing about An Do Duong seafood processing factory at Thot Not Industrial Zone.

Vice Chairman of the City People's Committee H.E. Nguyen Ngoc He is presenting the souvenir to President Julius Maada Bio.