APEC moves to boost sustainable urbanisation amid globalisation
Representatives from APEC member economies and relevant international organisations gathered in Hanoi on May 14 to discuss ways to boost sustainable urbanisation in the context of globalisation and climate change.
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“The management of the urban transformation is an important and difficult task for the member economies, particularly in the context of globalisation and climate change,” she noted.
Linh cited Vietnam as an example, saying that after 30 years of reform, the country has made important achievements in urbanisation.
The urban system has developed rapidly in terms of number and quality, with urbanisation rate increasing from 19.6 percent with 629 urban areas in 2009 to about 36.6 percent with 802 urban areas in 2016.
The urban sector produces about 70 percent of the country’s total GDP, bringing about much values in industrial production, export and import, science and technology progress and exerting spreading impacts of social economic development to the region and the country.
However, like many other developed economies, urbanisation in Vietnam has faced many difficulties and challenges, such as the rapid and hot urbanisation overpasssing the management capacity of local administrations, the inconsistant development between technical and social infrastructure, uncontrolled migration, social disparity as well as new arising global problems like climate change and sea level rising.
Addressing the event, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son, who is SOM Chair, stated that together with the increasing urbanisation and its role in social economic development, there are many associated problems and challenges of high levels of impacts on the environment and people.
“They require changes in urban development and management approaches,” he said, stressing the need for multi-sector and integrated strategies and solutions to support well-managed urban development, problem-solving and innovation toward sustainable and inclusive development.
The dialogue, held within the framwork of the second APEC Senior Officials Meeting (SOM2) and related meetings, focuses on discussing institutional framework and policy for sustainable urban development and urbanisation, linkages in regional urban development towards sustainability, urban housing development adaptive to climate change, and development models of energy efficiency and green growth.
A set of policy recommendations are expected to be formulated from presentations and discussions at the dialogue, which could be refered to while developing the urban agenda in each APEC member economies.
A set of policy recommendations are expected to be formulated from presentations and discussions at the dialogue, which could be refered to while developing the urban agenda in each APEC member economies.
