A subsidiary agreement between the Belgian Study and Consultancy Fund, and the Ministry of Planning and Investment and Vietnam National University of Agriculture was signed

On June 8^th, 2018, the Ministry of Planning and Investment held a meeting to officially sign subsidiary agreement for six of nine proposals funded by the Belgian Study and Consultancy Fund (SCF), including the project "Improving capacity of production and transfer bovine embryo via the Belgian technology" implemented by Vietnam National University of Agriculture. The meeting was chaired by Mr. Cao Manh Cuong, deputy director general of the Foreign Economic Relation Department (FERD), the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), Vietnamese Director of the SCF; Mr. Ivo Hooghe, the first secretary in charge of the International Cooperation within the Belgian Embassy in Vietnam; Ms. Krista Verstraelen, head of Belgian Development Agency (ENABEL) in Vietnam, co-director of SCF. From VNUA, attending the meeting, were Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thi Lan, president, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Su Long Thanh, lecturer at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, project leader and representative leader of the International Cooperation Office.

On 8^th August 2000, the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the Government of the Kingdom of Belgium signed an Agreement on the Establishment of the Belgian Study and Consultancy Fund to finance in full or in part studies, missions, seminars, workshops and other services, as well as preparatory for follow-up, contributing to the socio-economic development of Vietnam within the framework of the Belgian-Vietnamese development cooperation. The Fund is co-managed by Vietnamese and Belgian governments. By 2018, the Fund has supported a total of 37 proposals to government agencies in Vietnam.

In November 2017, the Belgian Study and Consultancy Fund officially announced a call for proposals from Vietnamese government agencies and organizations. After nearly eight months of evaluation, the Fund has approved nine of 40 proposals for funding. Six of those nine have been officially granted after submission of all required documents by the SCF. The project "Improving the capacity of production and transfer bovine embryo via the Belgian technology” implemented by Vietnam National University of Agriculture has been approved for implementation from June 1st, 2018, to May 31st, 2019 with a total budget of €127,000. With the objective of managing the in vivo and in vitro bovine embryo transfer and production technology transferred from Belgium to improve and crossbreed the high-quality cattle breed leading to reduce the cost of importing cattle from other countries, the project is expected to achieve the following outcomes: i) The in vivo and in vitro bovine embryo transfer and production procedures from Belgium will be transferred successfully; ii) The project staff will be trained on in vivo and in vitro bovine embryo transfer; iii) 50 veterinarians, researchers and students will be successfully trained and proficient in bovine embryo transfer; iv) Complete 02 reference books.