On the morning of January 23, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Le Cong Thanh had a reception and working session with Mr. Windfried Wicklein, General Director of the Southeast Asia Department of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). At the meeting, the two sides discussed climate finance issues and support to help Viet Nam implement projects to combat climate change.
Welcoming Mr. Windfried Wicklein, General Director of ADB and the delegation to work at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE), Deputy Minister Le Cong Thanh said: 2023 marks 30 years of ADB cooperation with Viet Nam. Accordingly, ADB is a long-time traditional partner and one of the partners coordinating with MONRE to implement many projects in the field of environment.
Deputy Minister Le Cong Thanh hopes that ADB will support the Government of Viet Nam in reducing greenhouse gas emissions to achieve the net-zero emissions target by 2050. At the same time, consider Supporting the implementation of the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) and the JETP Implementation Resource Mobilization Plan (RMP) were announced by Viet Namese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh at the COP28 Conference on Transformation climate in December 2023; as well as support Viet Nam in developing carbon markets and cooperation mechanisms under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.
Delegates from ADB and MONRE
Following Deputy Minister Le Cong Thanh's words, Mr. Windfried Wicklein sent congratulations to Viet Nam after successful activities at the recent COP28. Accordingly, Mr. Windfried Wicklein shared some of ADB's climate focuses in the coming time for Southeast Asia in general and especially Viet Nam. He noted that recently, ADB has been shaping itself to become a climate bank to support the Asia-Pacific region.
Accordingly, ADB will continue to support Viet Nam in perfecting its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), including sharing financial knowledge with ministries, branches, governments or the private sector to standardize with additional planning, implementation and investment plans, helping to ensure the achievement of the goals set out in the NDC.
In addition, the bank also plans to increase investment in energy transition in Southeast Asia and Viet Nam.
Noting the sharing from ADB, Deputy Minister Le Cong Thanh highly appreciated ADB's cooperation and support for agencies of MONRE, especially in the fields of climate change, biodiversity and environment, ocean plastic waste management and circular economy.
At the same time, Deputy Minister Le Cong Thanh requested ADB to further strengthen partnerships in implementing ongoing projects that bring high efficiency, including supporting the development of Technical Assistance in key policy areas such as climate change; water resources management; circular economy; Consider and continue to support the Project component proposed by the General Department of Meteorology and Hydrology (ADB-10) so that the project can be implemented after approval.