Thang made the statement at a general meeting held by the Vietnamese NationalAssembly (NA), the Inter-Parliamentary Union(IPU), and the UN Development Programme in Vietnam on the 2030 Agenda for SustainableDevelopment in the central city of Da Nang on December 17, which alsounderlined the role played by national parliaments in realising the SDGs.
During the event, which is part of the conference on NAs and SDGs which openedon the same day, Thang presented Vietnam’s national action plan towardsimplementing the 2030 Agenda, while mentioning challenges facing the country inmobilising financial resources for the work, as well as the role of the NA insupervising the implementation of the agenda.
The action plan outlines Vietnam’s 17 SDGs for 2030 with 115 specific targetsthat touch on 150 of the 169 global targets. Some targets are not included asthey do not match the context and development level of Vietnam.
Thang said Vietnam has already implemented a number of key activities, such assetting up an inter-agency working group on SDGs; as well as developing and joiningthe presentation of Vietnam’s voluntary national review report at the 2018 High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) of the UN in NewYork, the US.
The report has been highly appreciated by countries for its preparation ofcontent and presentation, along with the development of an action plan toimplement the agenda of ministries, sectors, and localities, he noted.
To date, 10 ministries and 29 localities have issued actionplans and built roadmaps for implementing the SDGs, which are expected to besubmitted to the Prime Minister for promulgation this month, Thang added.
In the time to come, more efforts will be made to raise public awareness andmobilise the participation of all stakeholders; continue to improveinstitutions and policies on sustainable development; develop guidelines tointegrate SDGs into the socio-economic development plan; and guide the supervisionand evaluation of SDGs, promulgating them throughout 2019.
He emphasised that the biggest challenge in this work is how to mobilisefinancial resources as there is currently no full report on the need for financialresources for implementing all SDGs in Vietnam.
Green growth and response to climate change are considered one of the key waysto achieve SDGs.
According to estimates by the National Strategy onClimate Change and the Green Growth Strategy, Vietnam needs 5 percent of itsannual GDP to cope with climate change and another 30 billion USD to achieveits green growth goals for 2030.
Thang also underlined the pivotal role of theVietnamese NA though activities such as monitoring the implementation ofstrategies, plans, and policies related to SDGs and the budget expenditure at anational and local level for relevant programmes and activities.
The NA and People's Councils at all levels are alsorepresentatives of the people, conveying the voice of the people in monitoringactivities of the State, he said.
Talking about the participation of the IPU and its member parliaments inrealising SDGs, Martin Chungong,Secretary General of the IPU stated that the implementation of SDGs aims to "leaveno one behind", in which parliaments will act as a mechanism from the national,regional, and global levels towards the implementation of SDGs.
He emphasised that Vietnam is a leading nation in its efforts to integrate SDGs,adding that the conference on the NA and SDGs shows the importance of the VietnameseNA in monitoring the implementation of strategies, plans, and policies relatedto SDGs.
Martin Chungong said that in the coming time, Vietnamshould mobilise the strong participation of the Government in implementing SDGs.–VNA