AFD Executive Director Philippe Orliange (left) has recently paid a working visit to Vietnam. (Photo: VNA)Such cooperation priorities completely matchcommitments made by Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland (the UK), last November, Orliangesaid in an interview with the press.
The AFD Executive Director, who has recently paid aworking visit to Vietnam, also lauded the Vietnamese government’s strongcommitments at COP26.
Under the cooperation strategy, the AFD has promotedin-depth discussions with Vietnam’s government agencies on policies regardingclimate change impacts, during which analysis and forecasts are shared with theVietnamese side.
Orliange took cooperation between the agency and theMinistry of Natural Resources and Environment as an example, saying they haveworked on a model of forecasting losses caused by climate change to Vietnam’seconomy, named GEMMES Vietnam.
Another example is the cooperation with VietnamElectricity (EVN), which has been maintained for years, under which the AFD hascontributed to expanding the power network and raising the efficiency of energyuse in Vietnam through projects.
According to the Executive Director, the agencyplans to help Vietnam adapt to unavoidable impacts of climate change, and willcontinue to support Vietnamese urban areas and localities to improve their resilienceagainst climate change.
Since its presence in Vietnam 30 years ago, the AFDhas strived to meet the country’s needs in different development periods of thenational economy, he said, emphasising that the agency has committed up to 1.3billion EUR (1.35 billion USD) to both private and public sectors in Vietnam sofar.
Apart from loans for the government, the AFD hasrolled out projects targeting localities, State-owned enterprises like EVN,commercial banks such as the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam(BIDV), and the private sector, he added.
Regarding Vietnam’s energy transition, Orliange saidVietnamese agencies have been clearly aware of the matter as well as itscomplexity.
The difficulty facing Vietnam in this regard is howto harmonise the increasing demand for electricity to serve economicdevelopment, and the need to cut gas emissions from electricity.
The transition requires a lot of time and a detailedplan not only for the case of Vietnam but also other countries in the world, henoted.
Orliange said the AFD’s climate change and energyprojects have brought about positive outcomes and benefited local residents,taking a new lock-dam to prevent, especially in the dry season, the rise of saline water, in the northern province of Ninh Binh province as anexample.
The agency has recently financed the large-scale SeSan 4 solar power project in the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum, and hasbeen implementing projects expanding the Hoa Binh and Ialy hydropower plants,among others./.
VNA
