The ten countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have pledged to collaborate with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in order to strengthen cooperation for improvements to agriculture and forestry.

The ASEAN Member States, with a combined population of more than 640 million – some 140 million more inhabitants than the European Union – is the preeminent intergovernmental organization in Southeast Asia, with a combined US$ 3.2 trillion worth of trade in goods and services.

The agreement, in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), was signed today in Hanoi, following a meeting of ASEAN Member State’s Ministers of Agriculture and Forestry (AMAF).