HCM CITY — Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc this morning stressed the important role that the Mekong Delta plays in national development as well as the enormous challenges that faced the region, especially climate change.

His remarks were made at the Mekong Delta Forum 2016 that opened in HCM City today, seeking new solutions to climate change problems facing the region. The forum would focus in particular on ways to ensure sustainable livelihood for the delta’s residents.

PM Phúc noted that despite the important role that the Mekong Delta plays in the development of Việt Nam’s southern region and of the country as a whole, it faced “enormous challenges related to water resources, saline intrusion, drought and other impacts from climate change”.

He said the Government had been instructing and implementing the integration of climate change adaptation activities into its socio-economic plans.

Victoria Kwakwa, World Bank Vice President for East Asia and the Pacific, said it was important to move from a shared framework of general recommendations to more specific concrete actions.

The two-day forum is set to discuss the main principles outlined in the Mekong Delta Plan, which articulates a vision for integrated development of the Mekong Delta. It will also seek to “deepen the dialogue on climate change risks and adaptive strategies that involve integrated planning and inter-provincial and multi-sectoral collaboration.

Case studies will be used to examine sustainable and climate resilient livelihoods and models and highlight the role of other stakeholders in scaling up successful models.

The forum will also brainstorm the choices of structural and non-structural investments, the typical trade-offs involved, the timing and the economics that will inform integrated and long-term decisions for the Mekong Delta.

Titled “Committed to a Prosperous and Climate Resilient Mekong Delta”, the forum is organised by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and Southwest Steering Committee. It is being held in collaboration with the World Bank and the Australian and Netherland embassies in Việt Nam.

Apart from the premier, the ministers of Natural Resources and Environment and Agriculture and Rural Development, the forum is being attended by the vice-chairpersons of all 13 Mekong Delta provinces. Also present are senior officials of different development partners like the World Bank, the governments of Australia, Netherlands, Germany and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

In all, around 200 delegates from the central government, provincial authorities, academic institutions, research agencies, embassies and international organisations are attending the forum. — VNS