Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has expressed wish that the Netherlands would share its experience in building a development strategy and rallying financial aid for Vietnam to develop its Mekong Delta sustainably.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (R) and Deputy Director of the Staff of the Delta Programme Commissioner Hermen Borst

He made the statement during a reception in Can Tho city on September 26 for Deputy Director of the Staff of the Delta Programme Commissioner Hermen Borst, who is in Vietnam to attend the conference on shaping the shift to sustainable development model adaptive to climate change in the Mekong Delta. 

The PM informed his guest that he toured sea dykes and irrigational works in key lower reaches during the Netherlands visit, seeing that they are similar to those in the Mekong Delta where he visited the same day by helicopter. 

Borst, for his part, said he shared the Netherlands’ sustainable development experience at the conference. Accordingly, he suggested Vietnam shifts to multi-sectoral and multi-dimensional approaches and harmonises interests of relevant parties such as agriculture, energy and water management. 

While devising a development plan for the plain, the Netherlands collected ideas of committees, localities, sectors, scientists and relevant units to submit to authorities for approval, he said, adding that the country also set up a national-scale fund to serve the effort, attracting private sector and foreign resources. 

Speaking highly of the Netherlands’ experience, the PM said Vietnam wants to establish a coordinating committee and a regional fund like the one in the Netherlands. 

He stressed that Vietnam wants to liaison closely with the Netherlands in the field.

VNA