Vietnamese Professor Vo Tong Xuan (Source: phunuvietnam.vn)

Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Motegi Toshimitsu has also sent his congratulatory letter to the professor.

Xuan is an agricultural scientist with many of his research conducted in the Mekong Delta – Vietnam’s rice granary.

He conducted a research focusing in rice cultivation techniques in the tropics in 1974 while he was studying at Kyushu University in Japan.

After completing his doctoral degree in agronomy, he returned home and worked at Can Tho University. In collaboration with Japanese researchers, Xuan continued to carry out studies on rice cultivation techniques.

In 1997, as a research fellow and visiting lecturer at Kyoto University’s Centre for Southeast Asian Studies, he came to Japan for a year, during which he studied the host nation’s agricultural co-operative models and helped arranging learning tours in Japan for Vietnamese farmers and policy-makers.

After returning to Vietnam, based on his research at Kyoto University, Xuan introduced agricultural policy, particularly Japanese agricultural co-operatives and techniques, at many workshops.

In addition, as an agronomist, he has made great contributions to strengthening cooperation in the agricultural sector between Japan and Vietnam via Japan's ODA cooperation programmes./. VNA

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