Vietnam always attaches significant importance to intensifying itsengagement in global efforts to manage water resources alongsidesustainable development, stated Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minhduring an Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) conference held in the Mekong Deltaprovince of Ben Tre on June 4.
It was thesecond time Vietnam has hosted such conference with the aim ofdiscussing measures to bolster coordination in water resourcesmanagement and develop the ASEM Post-2015 Development Agenda on theissue.
The session was attended by 180delegates from 53 ASEM members and regional and internationalorganisations, including the Mekong River Commission, the InternationalCommission for the Protection of the Danube River, and the World Bank.
The 10th ASEM Summit in 2014 adopted aninitiative of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung that suggestedstrengthening trans-regional coordination to address challenges of waterresources management across the Mekong River, given the fact that somecountries intended to build dams on the river.
Addressing the conference, Deputy PM Minh, who is also the ForeignMinister, stated that the way one country uses water can not onlydetermine its future but also affect the entire region.
He pointed to the fact that 750 million people in the world have yetto access clean water and that the risk of groundwater running out isincreasing in major regional cities such as Bangkok, Vientiane and HoChi Minh City.
Meanwhile, Ben Tre Province in the downstream of Mekong River is affected by increasing intrusion of saltwater.
Minh went on to declare that international cooperation willcontribute substantially to the results of the 2011-2020 nationalstrategy on sustainable development and a similar plan on waterresources through to 2020 in Vietnam.
He alsosuggested that participants’ discussions should revolve aroundtrans-sector collaboration and comprehensive approach in managing waterresources, management experience exchanges and the establishment of anetwork connecting relevant centres and research institutes.
The Deputy PM illustrated his points by giving an example of acooperation project between Ben Tre and Romania’s Tulcea province. Healso urged an ASEM institute of water resources research and developmentlocated in Hunan province, China to promote its role of facilitatinginformation exchange.
The function runs until June 5.-VNA
It was thesecond time Vietnam has hosted such conference with the aim ofdiscussing measures to bolster coordination in water resourcesmanagement and develop the ASEM Post-2015 Development Agenda on theissue.
The session was attended by 180delegates from 53 ASEM members and regional and internationalorganisations, including the Mekong River Commission, the InternationalCommission for the Protection of the Danube River, and the World Bank.
The 10th ASEM Summit in 2014 adopted aninitiative of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung that suggestedstrengthening trans-regional coordination to address challenges of waterresources management across the Mekong River, given the fact that somecountries intended to build dams on the river.
Addressing the conference, Deputy PM Minh, who is also the ForeignMinister, stated that the way one country uses water can not onlydetermine its future but also affect the entire region.
He pointed to the fact that 750 million people in the world have yetto access clean water and that the risk of groundwater running out isincreasing in major regional cities such as Bangkok, Vientiane and HoChi Minh City.
Meanwhile, Ben Tre Province in the downstream of Mekong River is affected by increasing intrusion of saltwater.
Minh went on to declare that international cooperation willcontribute substantially to the results of the 2011-2020 nationalstrategy on sustainable development and a similar plan on waterresources through to 2020 in Vietnam.
He alsosuggested that participants’ discussions should revolve aroundtrans-sector collaboration and comprehensive approach in managing waterresources, management experience exchanges and the establishment of anetwork connecting relevant centres and research institutes.
The Deputy PM illustrated his points by giving an example of acooperation project between Ben Tre and Romania’s Tulcea province. Healso urged an ASEM institute of water resources research and developmentlocated in Hunan province, China to promote its role of facilitatinginformation exchange.
The function runs until June 5.-VNA
