Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam will actively join activities of the ASEAN Working Group on Climate Change (AWGCC), as well as continue its coordinating role in performing relevant activities in 2021, according to the ASEANSenior Officials on the Environment (ASOEN)’s office in Vietnam (ASOEN Vietnam Office).

This year, within ASOEN cooperation, Vietnam will promote cooperation and sharing ofinformation, data and experience, and perform well its role as the hostcountry of the 11th AWGCC Meeting, the 5th ASEAN Environmentally Sustainable City (ESC) Award,the 4th ceremony to award the potential ESC certificate.

Vietnam will proactively participate in and cooperate closelywith Japan and other ASEAN member countries in implementing the ASEAN-Japan cooperationproject on environment, climate change and marine waste, while maintainingclose cooperation with the Republic of Korea and other member states to carry out cooperation programmes and projects on the environment and climate change.

It will work with partner countries and internationalorganisations to implement ASEAN cooperation activities on the environment,especially Norway, Germany, the European Union (EU), and the German DevelopmentCooperation Agency (GIZ).

As a responsible member of the ASEAN Community, in 2020, Vietnam demonstrated itsefforts and determination to successfully fulfill assigned responsibilities, significantlycontributing to the regional integration process in terms of natural resourcesand the environment, as well as played a crucial role in expanding environmentalcooperation with countries and international and regional organisations.

Marine plastic debris, and marine and coastal environmental problems are seenas the biggest among environmental challenges facing ASEAN countries,the office said.

Vietnam strongly supports the building of an ASEAN actionplan on marine plastic waste prevention, said Nguyen Que Lam, Deputy Director-General of the VietnamAdministration of Seas and Islands and head of the ASEANWorking Group on Coastal and MarineEnvironment (AWGCME).

Through jointly building and implementing the regional action plan,ASEAN member states will agree on common standards, concepts and data, and jointlybuild a regional foundation serving sharing of knowledge, experience, and advancedapplications in monitoring and minimising plastic waste, he stressed.

Vietnam has been recognised as a country with highbiodiversity in the world. The biodiversity has made a great contribution toensuring food security and livelihoods for people, maintaining geneticresources of animals and plants; supplying construction materials and fuel andpharmaceutical sources, and forming natural landscapes.

Vietnam has actively joined international treatieson biodiversity such as the Convention on Biological Diversity, the RamsarConvention, the Convention onInternational Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the UN Convention on the Law ofthe Sea (UNCLOS).

Regarding the building of the ASEAN action plan on marineplastic waste prevention, Vietnam and other ASEAN member countries haveshown a spirit of cohesion to coordinate with the international community insolving global environmental issues.


At the 31st Meeting of ASEANSenior Officials on the Environment (ASOEN 31) and relatedmeetings, the Vietnamese delegation actively contributed commentsand proposals to important issues, demonstrating its responsibility for theregion, and strengthening multilateral relations as well as ties with eachcountry within ASEAN and ASEAN 3.

Vietnam also petitioned other ASEAN member countries to address urgentenvironmental problems, including cross-border water and air pollution, ocean plasticdebris and climate change.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Vietnam alsocalled on ASEAN member countries to closely cooperate and gather resources to effectivelycontrol the crisis./.