HÀ NỘI – Việt Nam wants to see continued sharing of experience, human resources, capital resources and technologies from the Netherlands to help the Asian country deal with pressing environmental issues.

Deputy PM Trịnh Đình Dũng made the request when he chaired the sixth meeting of the Việt Nam-Netherlands Intergovernmental Committee on Climate Change Adaptation and Water Management with Dutch Minister of Infrastructure and Environment Melanie Schultz yesterday in The Hague.  

“Việt Nam needs assistance to build a national database on environmental resources, drought and salinity prevention, water supply and drainage management, exploitation and use of underground water, particularly depression and erosion by river and sea banks,” Dũng noted.

On the occasion, the Deputy PM hailed positive developments in bilateral ties between the two countries over the past 44 years.

“From an ordinary partnership, the Việt Nam-Netherlands relationship has progressed into a strategic partnership in the areas of climate change and water management,” Dũng said, adding that the two sides had turned challenges in coping climate change into opportunities for co-operation in agriculture, water management, and education and training.

Schultz affirmed that the Netherlands attaches importance to co-operation with Việt Nam, saying that co-operation projects helped reduce negative impacts of climate changes on the Mekong Delta, Vietnam News Agency reported.

The minister highlighted the significance of the Mekong Delta Plan (MDP) and agriculture to the region’s development, asserting that the Netherlands was ready to support and transfer techniques to help Việt Nam develop the delta.

The Netherlands was determined to work with Việt Nam to realise the MPD and address climate change challenges, Schultz noted.

During the sixth meeting in the Hague, the two sides reviewed the implementation of agreements reached at the fifth meeting in Hà Nội in March, 2016 and discussed plans to carry out the MDP, the Netherlands Initiative for Capacity Development in Post Secondary Higher Education (NICHE), the Facility for Infrastructure Development (ORIO), business and trade co-operation, and co-operation between cities.

They noted that the MDP was a symbol for other countries in the region to study, affirmed the link between agriculture and water as well as between agriculture and the future of the Mekong Delta and agreed upon measures needed to sustainably develop the Mekong Delta whilst developing rural areas and helping local people access knowledge, experience and technology.

In education, both sides said the Dutch NICHE and ORIO programmes played a crucial role in realising the strategic partnership agreements, which helps Việt Nam improve knowledge and capacity in managing water resources, climate change, agriculture and ocean shipping.

The two sides discussed co-operation between the cities of Hồ Chí Minh and Rotterdam and between Hà Nội and Amsterdam and a project related to water resource planning in the Hồng (Red) and Thái Bình rivers in 2020-39.

The seventh meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee on Climate Change Adaptation and Water Management will be held in Hà Nội next year.

PM’s meeting

During a meeting with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte yesterday as part of his visit to the country, Deputy PM Dũng said he hoped that the Netherlands would continue supporting Việt Nam in its national development as well as in implementing two strategic partnership agreements in climate change adaptation and sustainable agriculture development, while expanding ties in areas of the Netherlands’ strength.

PM Rutte lauded Việt Nam’s international integration and its efforts in strengthening economic relations through bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements.

He affirmed that the Government and business community of the Netherland are interested in fostering economic, trade and investment partnerships with Việt Nam, and support the EU’s approval of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement.

Highlighting that Việt Nam is an important partner of the Netherlands in Southeast Asia, he reaffirmed his country’s support for the stance of Việt Nam and ASEAN in settling East Sea disputes. — VNS