The Vietnamese government reaffirmed its commitment to continue exporting rice to the Philippines, according to the Department of Agriculture (DA). This comes after Deputy Minister Le Quoc Doanh of Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Development said Hanoi highly valued its relations with Manila within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations framework and bilateral cooperation on rice trade. “The government of Vietnam always considers rice trading with the Philippines is not only of economic importance, but also of significance for our good diplomatic relations between the two nations,” Le said in a letter to Agriculture Secretary William Dar, who welcomed this in the face of coronavirus diseases 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.