The meeting was co-chaired by Vietnamese Deputy Prime, Minister Trinh Dinh Dung and Dutch Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management, Cora van Nieuwenhuizen. It is under the framework of the ongoing official visit to Vietnam by Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
At the meeting, the two sides reviewed the implementation of previous agreements and collaborative activities in the fields of higher education, strengthening trade relationships, addressing agriculture and water issues, cooperation with Ho Chi Minh City and the construction of water infrastructure development. They also reviewed the implementation of Resolution No.120/NQ-CP issued by the Government of Vietnam on the sustainable development of the Mekong Delta in adaptation to climate change.
Speaking at the meeting, Deputy PM Dung said that the cooperative relations between the two countries are developing effectively and dynamically in all fields. In particular, the two countries' Strategic Partnership on Climate Change Adaptation and Water Management in 2010 was an important milestone.
After the previous six sessions, a range of specific programmes and projects within the framework of the Strategic Partnership on Climate Change Adaptation and Water Management have been effectively implemented in Vietnam, contributing significantly to its adaptation to climate change and water resource management.
Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung speaks at the meeting. (Photo: NDO/MINH DUY)
According to Vietnamese Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Tran Hong Ha, the Netherlands is an important partner of Vietnam in addressing the challenges of water resource management and adapting to climate change, and is also an opportunity for bilateral cooperation. Since the two sides officially signed the Strategic Partnership Agreement, Vietnam and the Netherlands have come a long way to maintain their bilateral cooperation. In recent years, multiple cooperation agreements have been signed and implemented by the two sides with the active support from the relevant Dutch ministries, research institutes, universities and technical advisers.
Minister Ha also proposed that the Netherlands cooperates and participates in the design of the Development Fund for the Mekong Delta, as well as the strengthening of regional coordination, the development of an Integrated Data Centre, the control of land subsidence and erosion, the drafting of the Floodwater Retention Strategy, and the collaboration in an ambitious agricultural transformation programme in the Mekong Delta.
Dutch Minister van Nieuwenhuizen said that her government highly appreciated Vietnam in giving priorities to climate change and water sources management. Climate change mitigation and adaptation need to be higher on the political agenda, she said, adding the both Vietnam and the Netherlands can learn from each other and be part of a global spearhead group of nations that increase their ambitions and accelerate their early action.
Dutch companies and investors are looking for opportunities to provide solutions to Vietnam and to make a profitable business case at the same time so that the relations will be sustainable, she added.
At the meeting, members of the Intergovernmental Committee also discussed the situation of cooperation, promoting and developing sustainable development projects in the Mekong Delta, assessing cooperation agreements implemented under the minutes of the previous sixth session of the Intergovernmental Committee, as well as discussing potential cooperation proposals for the next phase based on the needs, potentials and strengths of both sides.
