During the two days from 26 to 27 March 2018, the 4th Vietnam-Japan Environmental Policy Dialogue Meeting was held in Tokyo, Japan. The delegation of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Vietnam (MONRE) was led by the Deputy Minister Vo Tuan Nhan and leaders ofDepartment of International Cooperation, Vietnam Environment Agency and Department of Meteorology, Hydrology and Climate Change. At thismeeting, the Ministry of the Environment of Japan had attendance of Minister Tadahiko ITO, Deputy Ministers Yasuo TAKAHASI and Deputy Minister Arata TAKEBE and representatives of Department of International Cooperation.
Minister of the Environmentof Japan Ito, Deputy Minister Takahasi and Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment of Vietnam Vo Tuan Nhan in the photo session with the delegation
This is the annual meeting under the framework of the MOU between the two ministries signed for the second extension on December 14, 2016 in Hanoi. This meeting aims to review and evaluate the cooperation activities which have been being carried out during the extended periodand to determine the direction of cooperation in the coming time.
At the meeting, within a working day, many contents and activities were shared and discussed by the two sides, focusing on climate change and environmental protection.
Particularly, the field of climate change includes the issues related to the Joint Credit Mechanism (JCM), measurement, reporting and verification (MRV), adaptation and mitigation. The field of environmental protection includes issues such as waste management, chemical management, amendment of environmental protection law, etc.
Deputy Minister Vo Tuan Nhan and the delegation of MONRE at the meeting
Both sides highly appreciated results of cooperation activities between the two ministries recently, particularly a series of supportssuch as consultancy and policy development, capacity building, knowledge sharing and experience as well as the development and implementation of projects under the JCM framework and mitigation of climate change impacts.
Speaking at the meeting, Deputy Minister Vo Tuan Nhan, on behalf of MONRE, sent his sincerely thanks to the Ministry of the Environment of Japan for the fruitful cooperation and practical supports for Vietnam recently. At the same time, the Deputy Minister also said that there are still many potential cooperation fields that the two ministries should continue to promote and expand in the future, especially climate change adaptation and development of policies and laws on environmental protection.
Minister of Environment of Japan and Vice Minister Takahashi exchanged and discussed with the delegation of MONRE at the meeting.
At the end of the meeting, the two sides agreed to maintain the current cooperation and to expand into a number of new activities such as development of a pilot project on waste-to-energy factorywhich expected to locate inHai Duong province;construction of a POP laboratory at VEA, surveyingthe decentralized water treatment technology transferring needs and capacity. At the same time, he also proposed to the Ministry of Environment Japanese to consider for supporting to strengthen capacity for Hanoi University of Natural Resources and Environment (HUNRE) and Hochiminh City University of Natural Resources and Environment (HCMUNRE)
The 5th Vietnam-Japan Environmental Policy Dialogue will be held in Vietnam, scheduled in12/2018 or 1/2019 which are being agreed by both sides agreed. This meeting will also have the participation of a number of Japanese companies specializing in waste treatment in order to introduce and demonstrate advanced waste treatment technologies which are being applied in Japan.
Hoang Xuan Huy