Attending the signing ceremony on the side of the Swedish Forestry Agency were: Mr. Fredrik Silfwerbrand, Program Manager; Ms. Karin Östberg, senior policy analysis advisor, with the participation of Professor Mats Sandewall, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences; Mr. Klas Bengtsson, Eco-Innovation Foundation; Ms. Malin Lundberg-Ingemarsson, Stockholm International Water Institute. There was also the participation of nearly 40 participants from the LoCoFoRest training program - Locally controlled forest restoration, from Nepal, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.

On the side of VNUF, there was Assoc. Prof. Dr. Phung Van Khoa, Vice President, Prof. Dr. Hoang Van Sam - Director of International Cooperation Division, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Le Xuan Phuong - Vice Director of International Cooperation Division, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Thi Thu Ha - Vice Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Do Anh Tuan and representatives of lecturers, scientists and students of the advanced program in Natural Resources Management.

At the meeting, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Phung Van Khoa - Vice President welcomed the delegation and introduced the strengths of the university after 60 years of establishment and development as well as expressed expectations about the results of cooperation between both parties in the future. In particular, VNUF has many staff and lecturers who have participated in the training program "Locally Controlled Forest Restoration - LoCoFoRest" hosted by the Swedish Forest Agency and funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).

Mr. Fredrik Silfwerbrand, Program Manager, representative of the Swedish Forest Agency also shared an overview of the Swedish Forest Agency as well as the LoCoFoRest program. He was very happy to welcome Vietnamese participants from the first training course up till now the 4th training course. He highly appreciated the participation of Vietnamese participants in general and those from VNUF in particular, not only with good professional knowledge but also being very diligent and creative during the participation process.

In the presence of delegates, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Phung Van Khoa, Vice President, representative of VNUF, and Mr. Fredrik Silwferbrand, representative of the Swedish Forestry Agency, signed a Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation in the field of forestry, marking a step forward in the relationship between the two institutions in particular, and the two countries in the field of forestry in general.

Some photos from the signing ceremony