At this morning’s meeting with Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Bui Xuan Cuong and representatives of departments and agencies, Mr. Vincent Karremans, Vice Mayor of Rotterdam of the Netherlands, who led a delegation to visit and work in the southern metropolis shared the Netherland’s experience in combating climate change.
At the reception of Rotterdam Vice Mayor Vincent Karremans and the delegation to Ho Chi Minh City, Mr. Bui Xuan Cuong said that the relationship between Rotterdam and Ho Chi Minh City can become a model for cooperation efforts between cities in adapting to climate change. Recognizing the importance of climate change adaptation for sustainable economic development, Ho Chi Minh City has been implementing many important policies in this field.
Currently, the southern largest city needs a lot of financial resources, management experience, and technology to successfully implement the above plans. In addition to efforts to mobilize domestic resources, Ho Chi Minh City needs to learn from countries with experience in the field of climate change adaptation, of which the Netherlands is one of the trusted partners.
Thanking the warm welcome of city leaders, Mr. Vincent Karremans said that the two sides can cooperate and learn from each other, in the context that all over the world is having to cope with climate change. Rotterdam City has a lot of experience and specific achievements in urban planning towards nature, reducing the impact of climate change and is ready to share experience in specific cooperation projects with Ho Chi Minh City.
At the meeting, the two sides talked about the experiences and challenges of Ho Chi Minh City and Rotterdam in their efforts to cope with climate change and raising awareness of the government machinery and people about climate change adaptation actions in addition to discussions on experiences and initiatives in developing sustainable ports and water transport.
Speaking at the end of the meeting, Mr. Bui Xuan Cuong affirmed that through the exchange, both sides agreed that climate change adaptation requires a comprehensive multi-faceted approach from the economic growth model to urban planning, environmental solutions and the awareness of businesses and local inhabitants.
When proposing the fields in which the two sides can work on, Vice Chairman Bui Xuan Cuong said that it is necessary to continue to carry out technical support activities to enhance capacity in the field of climate change and flood adaptation in areas such as project preparation work, carry out communication work to raise awareness and behavior of businesses and people, inter-branch coordination model in the process of implementing the Climate Change Response Action Plan and port management.
Besides, it is necessary to promote the search for short-term and long-term financial solutions to implement climate change adaptation projects, according to Mr. Cuong’s suggestion. Moreover, joint working groups should be set up to carry out activities for climate change adaptation, such as the Ho Chi Minh City - Rotterdam Joint Working Group on Climate Change Adaptation to implement the Memorandum of Understanding effectively.
After the meeting, Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Bui Xuan Cuong and Vice Mayor of Rotterdam Vincent Karremans took part in a cycling tour on Nguyen Hue walking street.
