The Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), the United Nations in Vietnam and the German Development Agency (GIZ) jointly held a conference in Hanoi on August 25 to announce the Vietnam Voluntary National Review (VNR) on the implementation of sustainable development goals (SDGs) and a political dialogue towards 2023 SDG Summit.

The event was part of activities to prepare for the SDG Summit which is slated for September 18-19, aiming to promote international commitments to speed up the implementation of SDGs.

Participants who are representatives of ministries, sectors, central agencies, localities, the National Assembly, socio-political organisations, foreign diplomatic offices in Vietnam, development partners and businesses, gave ideas and defined policy priorities and investment areas to support Vietnam in building national commitments to SDG transformation.

VNR shows the progress of SDG implementation in Vietnam, as well as difficulties and challenges facing the country, and policy priorities to speed up the progress. It plays an important role in providing information to the dialogue on prioritised policies and the SDG transformation process, which will be specified into commitments, initiatives and national actions to speed up SDG implementation.

Dr. Le Viet Anh, head of the MPI’s Department of Science, Education, Natural Resources and Environment, highly valued the positive contributions and engagement of relevant agencies during the building of VNR, especially the technical support from the GIZ and the UN in Vietnam.

Anh affirmed that Vietnam commits to continuing speeding up the comprehensive implementation of the SDGs through strategies, planning, plans and policies at national, sectoral and local levels.

Alongside, Vietnam will define major and prioritised areas in SDG implementation, said the official, holding that the political dialogues are the starting point for all parties to join hands in speed up and transform the goals and complete them by 2030.

For her part, UN Resident Coordinator in Vietnam Pauline Tamesis underlined that continuous crises in the world have slowed down the implementation of the SDGs.

She cited a special report from the UN Secretary General showing that only 12% of SDG specific measurable targets are on track. Vietnam is not an exception, said Tamesis. The VNR report shows that Vietnam has made significant progress on a variety of goals, but increased implementation and investment is still needed to get all of the SDGs back on track to achieve them all by 2030, she stated.

She said that the dialogue aims to share new ideas and recommendations to build Vietnam’s national commitments to SDG transformation, which will help design specific roadmaps for the Vietnamese Government and relevant agencies to make steps forwards in SDG implementation.

Simon Kreye, Charge d'Affaires of Germany in Vietnam, said that the event is a chance to promote the joint efforts from international organisations sharing a common goal in supporting the Vietnamese Government in completing all SDGs by 2030.

He said that GIZ Macroeconomic Reform/Green Growth Programme will continue to support the MPI in effectively managing public and private resources to invest in green and inclusive growth, making an important contribution to the implementation of Vietnam's 2030 Agenda./.VNA