Đặng Huy Hậu (centre), vice chairman of Quảng Ninh People’s Committee, speaks at a workshop on the promotion of green growth in Hạ Long Bay in Hạ Long City, Quảng Ninh Province, on Thursday. — Photo courtesy of JICA

QUẢNG NINH — Quảng Ninh Province's People’s Committee and the Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) on Thursday jointly organised the second workshop on “Green Growth Dissemination and Promotion” in Hạ Long City, outlining specific goals for a transition from a "brown" to "green" economy.

The workshop was part of JICA’s technical co-operation project for “Green Growth Promotion in the Hạ Long Bay Area”. 

Murooka Naomichi, senior representative of JICA Việt Nam, spoke about the important role of the project as a model for realising the recent directive on sustainable development issued by Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc, and for achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs).

He praised Quảng Ninh Province’s commitment to continue publishing the Green Growth White Book, which provides an overview of environmental quality and green-growth activities in the province.

“It is very important that the province not only develop but implement provincial policies that create an enabling environment for all stakeholders, including the private sector, to take part in green growth activities,” said Murooka.

The workshop was an opportunity for all stakeholders to share and exchange opinions on actions that Quảng Ninh Province should take to transform itself into a green economy.

Đặng Huy Hậu, vice chairman of provincial People’s Committee, said the province has been striving since 2011 to convert its so-called brown economic model into a green one in the direction of sustainable development.

“The province will commit to sustain the project’s achievements by issuing a provincial resolution which will integrate green growth indicators into economic activities; improving the provincial environmental protection fund; and allocating annual budget funds to implement Green Growth promotion activities,” Hậu said.

Since 2016, JICA has been co-operating with the provincial Department of Planning and Investment to implement the Green Growth Promotion Project based on lessons learned and experiences from the Lake Biwa Model in Shiga Prefecture, which has the largest freshwater lake in Japan.

The project aims to support Quảng Ninh Province to transit from a brown to green economy through environmentally sustainable policies in key industrial sectors and development policies in the tourism sector. — VNS