Vietnam needs
active support from the francophone community in sharing experiences in
institutional mechanism, solutions and resources to cope with climate change and
to establish a mechanism for the exchange of parliamentary information on
sustainable development and climate change between Vietnam and France.

This statement was raised at a seminar on environment, climate change and the
role of legislative bodies in policy making, held in Hanoi on December 15.

Chairman of the Vietnamese National Assembly’s Committee for External Relations
Nguyen Van Son welcomed the delegation of the Francophone Parliament Alliance (APF),
representatives of a number of APF sub-committees, experts from the Francophone
Institute for Energy and the Environment (IEPF) and delegates from the Lao and
Vanuatu parliaments.

He said he believed that the seminar would put forward useful proposals to
enhance multilateral cooperation in coping with climate change.

Chairman of the APF’s Vietnam subcommittee Ngo Quang Xuan, Secretary General of
Administration for the APF Jean Luc Lala and representatives from OIF and IEPF
said environmental protection, development issues and biodiversity are the APF’s
interests.

The seminar affirmed APF members’ pledge to enhance cooperation for sustainable
development, cultural diversity and environmental protection for future
generations.

The participants focused on assessing the impacts of projects, policy, the
convention on biological diversity and the Cartagena Protocol on biodiversity on
the environment, biodiversity in socio-economic fields, the role of MPs and the
negotiation of multilateral agreements on environment, the convention on climate
change and the Kyoto Protocol and the role of the NA in sustainable development
and coping with climate change in Vietnam.

They recommended Vietnam issue a resolution on coping with climate change and
mobilise sources for the work, promptly issue laws on disaster prevention and
control and increase budgets for carrying out solutions to cope with climate
change.

It is necessary to prepare for climate change adaptation and combine policies
with socio-economic development policies, assist regions worst hit by climate
change in Vietnam, help poor people and speed up the implementation of hunger
eradication and poverty reduction programmes.

VNN/VOV/VNA