Within the framework of the Franco-Vietnamese scientific cooperation, Mr Michel Laurent, President of the French Research Institute for Development (IRD) will visit Vietnam from May 22-24.

He will attend the launch of the European project NOPOOR Vietnam, visit the International Joint Laboratory RICE, and meet the Presidents of the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, and the Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences to discuss collaborative research activities.

Led by the IRD, the European project NOPOOR "Enhancing knowledge for renewed policies against poverty” involves more than one hundred researchers from 20 universities and research institutions in 17 countries on four continents for a period of 5 years. It is the largest research program funded by the EU dedicated to the fight against poverty in developing countries for the coming years. The Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences is the project’s partner.

 

A Vietnam - France cooperation project in the agricultural sector.

 An international joint laboratory (LMI) is a partnership program, designed and proposed by the IRD. It allows multiple partners from the same country or from different countries to conduct multidisciplinary research projects around a common scientific platform, and promotes collective and individual training of partners.

According to a press release issued by the French Embassy to Hanoi on May 20, in Vietnam, the LMI RICE associates since 2011, the Agricultural Genetics Institute (AGI) of the Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences (VAAS) where it is located , the University of Science and Technology of Hanoi (USTH) and the University Montpellier 2. It also involves researchers from the Plant Protection Research Institute (PPRI). The objective of this LMI is to improve rice varieties in response to the constraints of climate change (drought, salinity) and the emergence of new pathogens (viruses, bacteria, nematodes).

Mr Michel Laurent will also sign two framework agreements in order to strengthen the Franco-Vietnamese scientific cooperation. The first, signed with the Ho Chi Minh city-based University of Science, will promote the development of new research partnerships, including a study of mangroves in Vietnam starting at the end of this year. The second, with USTH, the Institute of Information Technology from the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, and the University of La Rochelle will initiate research in Information and Communication Technologies at USTH.

The IRD is a French public sector institution working in the fields of science and technology, and entirely dedicated to research into development. It is jointly governed by the French ministries for research and for development./.

CPV