Environmental protection is actually the core of sustainable development in Vietnam and all over the world, said Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung at the opening ceremony of the 13th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on the Environment (AMME 13) on October 28 in Hanoi.
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| Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung (middle) with ASEAN Environment Ministers at AMME 13 in Hanoi__Photo: Trong Dat/VNA |
However, economic development associated with environmental protection was a hard task for every country, Dung said, asking all countries to consider environmental protection both a target and a fundamental matter of sustainable development.
The Government leader said Vietnam would further focus on environmental protection while pursuing green growth under the national socio-economic development plan for 2016-20, adding that the country was always willing to work with ASEAN members, partner countries and the international community to keep the environment green.
Dung said he hoped the AMME 13 would work out concrete cooperation programs to ensure environmental sustainability and climate change response, contributing to the success of the 2015 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change as well as the United Nation’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
At the meeting, ASEAN Secretary-General Le Luong Minh said the region was suffering the impacts of climate change; therefore, close coordination among members and stakeholders was essential.
ASEAN needed to work in unity toward achieving the global sustainable development goals,” Minh said.
AMME 13’s related meetings include a preparatory senior officials’ meeting, the 14th ASEAN+3 ministerial meeting, the 11th meeting of the Committee on implementation of the ASEAN Agreement on Trans-boundary Haze Pollution, and the 11th meeting of the parties to the treaty, which are scheduled to last through October 30. - (VNS/VLLF)
