HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam’s environment ministry has called on further assistance from local and international organisations to help Việt Nam successfully implement the Paris Agreement, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Võ Tuấn Nhân confirmed yesterday.

Việt Nam’s Government ratified the Paris Climate Change Agreement on October right ahead of the COP 22, making it the 95^th out of 112 countries to have ratified the first-ever universal, legally binding global climate deal adopted last December by 195 countries at the Paris Climate Conference (COP 21).

Việt Nam was also one of the few countries to have developed a detailed plan to implement the agreement, Nhân said at yesterday’s conference on the dissemination of the COP 22 outcome and announcement of the country’s Action Plan to implement the agreement.

He added that the move was applauded at the COP 22 that took place in Marrakech, Morocco from 7 to 18 November, 2016.

Việt Nam’s implementation plan would be carried out in two stages – from 2016-20 and 2021-30 with 68 compulsory tasks in accordance with the Paris Agreement, Nhân said.

United Nations Development Programme’s country director Louise Chamberlain said the organisation welcomed the good progress made at COP22 towards scaling up climate action to achieve the ambitious targets of the Paris Agreement.

She said the strong political statement of “the Marrakech Proclamation for Our Climate and Sustainable Development” reaffirmed the world’s commitment to combat climate change, and urges the world to move “forward purposefully to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to foster adaptation efforts”.

She said Việt Nam had relevant climate-proof policies and incentives in place, so the country now had opportunities to access global finance such as the Global Environment facility, Green Climate Fund (GCF) and other international finance mechanisms to install resilient financing for infrastructure investment.

“Việt Nam sets a good example of mobilising climate finance from GCF by obtaining an award of US$29.5 million for the project ’Improving the Resilience of Vulnerable Coastal Communities to Climate Change Related Impacts with UNDP support’,” she said.

Anna Shreyoegg, chief technical advisory of a project by the German Federal Enterprises for International Co-operation, better known as GIZ, said that Việt Nam has proved its strong commitment to combating climate change and that the country has forged a leadership role for the region in the combat.

“Germany acknowledges that the implementation of the Paris Agreement will be challenging and demanding, but I believe also a rewarding task for Việt Nam especially since it faces immense risks from the negative impacts of climate change,” she said.

Germany, through GIZ, would continue to support Việt Nam in implementing the Paris Agreement. This year, Germany would commit 18 million euros ($19.1 million) for its international climate initiative. — VNS