Vietnam, AFD strengthen cooperation, promote energy transition
Vietnam wants to deepen the traditional reliable relations and strategic partnership with France, particularly the French Development Agency (AFD), said Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha while receiving AFD Deputy Director General Marie-Hélène Loison in Hanoi.
During the reception, Ha appreciated the results of AFD's activities in Vietnam as well as changes in its organisational apparatus for wider and more effective access to new development fields.
Ha said that besides institutionalising mechanisms and policies on green transition and just energy transition, Vietnam needs advice on techniques, institutional improvement, technology selection, governance models, and financial resources in the fields of energy, transportation, agriculture, and urban areas.
Such advice will help Vietnam to determine actual needs, and plans for effective use of domestic resources, loans, and sponsorship sources, Ha said.
He noted that AFD's studies on green transition, climate change response, and energy transition will provide "solution packages" for investment, science and technology, and technical infrastructure development in Vietnam.
Regarding green transition and just energy transition, the Deputy Prime Minister said that the Government of Vietnam is discussing with partners to soon pilot several offshore wind power projects, adding the country also promotes the participation of the private sector in renewable electricity production.
"AFD's research results can also support French businesses to find investment and business cooperation projects in Vietnam," Ha said.
For her part, Marie-Hélène Loison affirmed that AFD and its partners are always ready to provide technical advice and support for Vietnam to improve the legal framework, find financial sources to implement important socio-economic development programmes and projects in Vietnam, especially in the fields of energy transition, climate change response, and green transition.
Since 2019, AFD has coordinated with the Vietnamese side to implement a project to research the socio-economic impacts of climate change in Vietnam and the climate change adaptation strategy. The two sides have launched Phase 2 of the project with priority given to assessing the socio-economic impacts of the energy transition process in Vietnam.
