Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc met with foreign diplomats in Vietnam attending the Conference on Sustainable and Climate-Resilient Development of the Mekong Delta in Can Tho city on September 27, calling for more support from foreign countries for the delta. 

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and delegates to the conference

At a reception for German Ambassador Christian Berger, the leader said the diplomat’s attendance at the event demonstrates the German Government’s attention to sustainable development of the Mekong Delta. 

The Vietnamese Government thanked the German Government for its effective cooperation and support, he said, adding that such German-assisted programmes have significantly contributed to Vietnam’s socio-economic development, particularly in vocational training, energy, environmental protection and climate change response. 

The PM noted his hope that the German Government will continue its support to the Mekong Delta in development planning. 

Vietnam always regards Germany as the country’s leading trust-worthy and important European partner, he said, urging the two sides to maintain regular meetings in order to enhance their mutual trust and deepen the bilateral ties across fields. 

In reply, Ambassador Christian Berger pledged to hold working sessions with relevant Vietnamese agencies to accelerate bilateral cooperation in sustainable and climate-resilient development of the Mekong Delta. 

The diplomat expressed his wish that the Vietnamese and German Governments will continue scaling up their cooperation, looking towards a better future for the two countries’ people. 

Christian Berger also said he hopes that pragmatic cooperation initiatives between Vietnam and other countries and development partners, including Germany, will be raised at the conference, helping to transform challenges posed by climate change into opportunities. 

At a meeting with Australian Ambassador to Vietnam Craig Chittick, PM Phuc expressed his belief that the diplomat’s attendance at the conference will help advance collaboration between the two countries more practically and effectively. 

Craig Chittick said Australia has rolled out many support and cooperation programmes in the Mekong Delta, noting that the Australian Government will continue its official development assistance (ODA) to Vietnam while mobilising resources for the country to develop the delta.

The Australian Government will also assist Vietnam in the spirit of innovative partnership, helping the country improve quality and productivity in agricultural production, he said. 

Welcoming Swedish Ambassador Pereric Hogberg, PM Phuc called on the diplomat to do more for the cooperation between Vietnam and Sweden. 

Pereric Hogberg said Sweden always heeds the development of the Mekong Delta. The Swedish Government has ratified a package worth more than 5 million USD to support the Mekong Delta Commission. 

Meeting with Jun Yanagi, an envoy of the Japanese Embassy in Vietnam, the Vietnamese leader praised Japan’s assistance to the development of the Mekong Delta. 

Vietnam attaches importance to developing its relationship with Japan in the spirit of the extensive strategic partnership, for peace and prosperity in Asia, he said. 

The host urged the two sides to closely coordinate with each other in preparing the visit to Vietnam by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to attend the APEC Economic Leaders’ Week slated for November. 

Jun Yanagi lauded PM Phuc’s initiatives to organise the conference in order to mobilise all resources for the development of the climate change-hit delta, emphasising that climate change response is one of the main pillars of Japan-Vietnam cooperation.

Government resolved to develop Mekong Delta sustainably: PM

PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc (centre) at the Conference on Sustainable and Climate-Resilient Development of the Mekong Delta

The Government aims to develop the Mekong Delta sustainably and prosperously, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has affirmed. 

While chairing a plenary session of the Conference on Sustainable and Climate-Resilient Development of the Mekong Delta in Can Tho city on September 27, PM Phuc said the Government is committed to creating an optimal mechanism, mobilising the participation of people, businesses and international organisations, and materialising actions, initiatives, tasks and solutions raised at the conference to turn challenges into opportunities and develop the region sustainably. 

He underscored the need to devise new policies on regional development, along with identifying the delta’s major challenges posed by both climate change and other factors. 

Apart from transforming the development model, the delta needs to roll out solutions as well as priority programmes and projects in the future, the PM said. 

He highlighted the engagement of the private sector and international partners, calling for stronger cooperation in the Mekong Sub-region in the process, which, he said, should be integrated with implementing the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

It is necessary to take advantage of the digital and fourth industrial revolutions to transform the development model of the Mekong Delta, PM Phuc said. 

Recalling his visit to the Netherlands in July 2017 and his field trip to the Mekong Delta on September 26, the leader stressed the importance of climate change response planning.  

Encompassing one city and 12 provinces with a total area of 3.94 million ha and a population of 17.5 million, the Mekong Delta plays an important role in Vietnam’s economy. 

As one of the deltas with the largest agricultural output in Southeast Asia and the largest agricultural production area in Vietnam, it contributes 54 percent of the country’s rice output, 70 percent of aquaculture yield and 36.5 percent of fruit. Up to 90 percent of rice and 65 percent of Vietnam’s seafood exports come from the delta. 

However, the Mekong Delta is one of the four deltas worldwide most affected by climate change and sea level rise.

Given this, the Government held the conference to set forth a vision for sustainable and prosperous development of the Mekong Delta in connection with the country’s key economic regions and the Greater Mekong Sub-region.

VNA