The Philippines will get 1.5 million metric tons of rice annually from Vietnam starting this year, Malacañang said in a press release yesterday.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo witnessed the exchange of the instrumentalities between the two countries on the three-year agreement on the sidelines of the Philippine Reform Agenda Forum organized by the World Bank at the Fontana Conference Center in Clark, Pampanga.

The Memorandum of Agreement was earlier signed by Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap and Vietnamese Industry and Trade Minister Yu Huy Hoang.

Yap said the rice supply coming in will beef up the National Food Authority’s stockpile and guarantee the Philippines enough rice supply, the press release said. 

The rice supply agreement states that the “Vietnamese government agrees to sell, unless under circumstances of natural disaster and harvest loss, and the Philippines agrees to buy up to 1.5 million metric tons of Vietnamese white rice annually starting 2008, subject to market and production conditions and to terms allowable under applicable laws of both countries.

Both countries agreed to take “strict measures” to stop illegal rice trading between the two countries.

The Vietnam Southern Food Corp. and the NFA are the agencies of their respective governments authorized to implement the terms of the MOA, which will be in effect for three years, the press release said.

The agreement will be renewed for another three years, unless terminated by either of the parties through diplomatic channels six months prior to the intended date of termination, the press release added.*

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