This view was shared by Yvo De Boer, former Executive Secretary of the UN Secretariat of the Framework Convention on Climate Change, at a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai in Hanoi on November 5.

According to Mr Yvo, Vietnam needs to focus on five major issues to cope with climate change, including applying appropriate reduction measures; mobilising all ministries, sectors and localities to participate in natural disaster control; developing a sustainable power sector by focusing on clean and renewable energy, effectively using ODA; and creating efficient mechanisms for coordination.

Mr Hai briefed Mr Yvo and his colleagues on Vietnam’s efforts to deal with climate change-related issues. The country has gradually restructured its energy sector by replacing traditional energy resources with renewable energy and is striving to reach the goal of using five percent of renewable energy by 2015 and 8 percent by 2020.

Vietnam has issued strict regulations for factories to minimise adverse impacts on the environment. When beginning operations, all projects are required to have initial environmental assessments and this will be a compulsory annual task, said Mr Hai.

Mr Yvo said in addition to using ODA from non-governmental international organisations to carry out projects, Vietnam needs to build a model of public-private partnership (PPP) cooperation. The country should also raise public awareness of the role of energy in life and promote saving energy, researching and developing new energy resources, which is necessary for every country.