The sixth Assembly of the Global Environment Facility and related meetings will take place in the central city of Da Nang from June 23-29, said the Office of the Vietnamese Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. 

The 6th GEF Assembly will attract the participation of nearly 1,500 delegates, including the ministers in charge of environment and senior officials from 183 member countries, leaders of the United Nations agencies, regional development banks, socio-economic organisations and businesses. 

The Prime Minister of Vietnam will be present at the event.

A series of events are planned for besides the GEF Assembly, such as the meeting of the GEF Council, 14 round-table sessions, forums and meetings of socio-political organisations, 17 technical meetings of GEF units, about 70 sideline events, as well as exhibitions and fact-finding trips funded by the GEF. 

The GEF Assembly will review and adopt directions and solutions to current global environment issues, and allocate resources for environment projects during the GEF’s 7th cycle (GEF 7) from 2018-2022. 

Nearly 30 countries have committed 4.1 billion USD to the GEF 7 to better protect the future of the planet and human health. 

The 6th GEF Assembly will also convey a message of Vietnam’s strong commitment to sustainable development, especially in delivering on international commitments on environment to which Vietnam is a member. It will also offer Vietnam a chance to foster bilateral and multilateral cooperation, seek opportunities to receive financial and technological support, and strengthen capacity in the fields of climate change response, biodiversity, chemicals, land degradation, sustainable forest management, popularisation of Vietnamese tourism, culture and people. 

Established in 1991 with a mission to deal with global environment issues, GEF has funded 14.5 billion USD and raised additional 75.4 billion USD for nearly 4,000 relevant projects. With 183 member countries, GEF is an independent financial organisation offering the largest volume of public capital to environment projects, mostly in biodiversity preservation, climate change, land degradation, chemicals and wastes, sustainable forest management and comprehensive approach. 

Vietnam joined the GEF in December 5, 1994, with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment serving as the national coordinator. 

Since its establishment, GEF Vietnam has raised 457.18 million USD for 107 environment projects in different sectors and localities. Of them, 56 are national-level projects worth 153.8 million USD and 47 are regional and global projects worth a total of 294 million USD. Additionally, there are 4 projects funded by the Special Climate Change Fund with a total value of roughly 9 million USD. 

During the GEF 6, Vietnam was allocated over 26 million USD for projects in the fields of climate change (over 11 million USD), land degradation (over 1.5 million USD) and biodiversity (over 13 million USD). As of late 2016, the GEF Vietnam Office gave nod to 15 projects worth 24.6 million USD in the System for Transparent Allocation of Resources (STAR) of which the GEF consented to 6 projects valued at over 18.8 million USD. 

GEF also offered roughly 15 million USD in aid to Vietnam in chemicals and wastes, international waters, sustainable forest management, and comprehensive approaches.-VNA