Plastic waste littering an embankment in a commune near Phan Rang-Tháp Chàm City, the south-central province of Ninh Thuận. — VNA/VNS Photo Nguyễn Thành

HÀ NỘI — Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính has approved a plan for Việt Nam to proactively prepare for and take part in the building of a global agreement on ocean plastic pollution.

The Government leader signed Decision No 1407/QĐ-TTg to approve the plan with a view to ensuring sufficient conditions in terms of human resources, information, and data to serve Việt Nam’s participation in the negotiation, thereby protecting the country’s rights and interests and improving its capacity in ocean plastic pollution prevention and control.

By making this move, Việt Nam has shown its pioneering viewpoint in the region in dealing with marine plastic waste while proactively and actively joining in the formation of regional and international cooperation frameworks on marine plastics prevention, control, and minimisation.

The plan is part of efforts to carry out the Party and State’s guidelines on sustainably developing Việt Nam’s sea-based economy, and help build and successfully implement effective models for the circular economy and plastics management.

It helps consistently implement the foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, peace, friendship, cooperation and development, diversification and multilateralisation of foreign relations, and safeguarding Việt Nam’s rights, legal and legitimate interests.

It also demonstrates the country’s viewpoint of optimising international support and assistance for the preparation for and engagement in building a global treaty on ocean plastic pollution, and of seriously and responsibly performing relevant international obligations during the participation process.

Under this plan, surveys of the marine plastic waste situation will be conducted in key zones of the northern, central, and southern regions. These localities include Quảng Ninh and Hải Phòng in the north, Đà Nẵng and Quảng Nam in the central region, and Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu and HCM City in the south.

Tạ Đình Thi, General Director of the Việt Nam Administration of Seas and Islands, said the plan issuance illustrates the country’s viewpoint that challenges posed by marine plastic waste are global issues that require global-scale approaches and solutions, but these approaches and solutions must still match the priorities of ASEAN and Việt Nam.

Việt Nam supports and is ready to join negotiations on an agreement on marine plastic waste on the basis of international law and within the United Nations framework, for the sake of a green planet, peace, stability, and prosperity, he added. — VNS