Signing of the Memorandum of understanding for bilateral cooperation in Vietnam
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Dr Lai (MoNRE), Dr Hoc (MARD), ladies and gentlemen,
I would like to thank the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment and the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, for receiving me so warmly.
It is special to visit this impressive city that will celebrate its 1000th anniversary next year.
Your country is experiencing difficult times at the moment.
Typhoon Ketsana hit large parts of your country last week and claimed many victims.
Thousands of people have been made homeless and the scale of the damage is enormous.
I feel strongly for the affected families who are mourning the loss of loved ones.
And I have great respect for the way in which the Vietnamese government took action, both in responding to as anticipating on the typhoon.
Climate change plays a central role in the challenges Vietnam is facing.
As a result of climate change, the importance of water will only increase further in the future.
This not only applies to your country, but to my country as well, because a large proportion of The Netherlands lies below sea level.
For many years, our countries have had excellent relations in the field of water.
In 2004 this led to a Memorandum of Understanding in which we made cooperation agreements regarding Coastal Zone Management and Water Resources Management. This cooperation is important for the both of us.
That Memorandum expires at the end of this year, and the time has now come to give our cooperation a new, broader base.
Vietnam and the Netherlands wish to cooperate as equal partners and focus this cooperation on the Mekong River Basin.
This is the purpose of the new Memorandum of Understanding that we will be signing today.
It is important that MARD will participate alongside MoNRE in implementing the Memorandum.
On the Dutch side, I will coordinate the involvement of all the Dutch ministries that deal with water issues.
Vietnam and the Netherlands are facing common challenges.
The IPCC has identified both Vietnam and the Netherlands as countries that are very vulnerable to climate change.
Both our countries have long coastlines and lie partially or completely in deltas with large water flows. And both countries are densely populated and dynamic.
The sea level along our coasts is rising.
We are both facing increasing river discharges in winter and decreasing river discharges in summer.
Salt water intrusion is having a growing impact on our agriculture and on our ecosystems.
And the supply of sufficient freshwater is an ever-growing challenge.
Vietnam and the Netherlands are adaptation hot spots.
We both feel the urgency of adapting to climate change.
The Netherlands has chosen for an adaptation strategy in which we look one hundred years into the future.
What does climate change mean in the long term for our safety, our economy, our infrastructure and our natural environment? And how can we adapt, step by step?
These questions – and their answers – are the focal points of my Delta programme. This programme will be anchored in a Delta Act and linked to a Delta fund that will secure long term financing.
The Netherlands is seeking suitable partners with whom it can share knowledge, experiences and solutions.
Based on the existing relation, Vietnam is a delta countries with which we would especially like to cooperate on exchanging knowledge and solutions more profoundly.
The focus of this cooperation would be Coastal Zone Management and River Basin Management in the Mekong Delta.
The MoU that we will sign today expresses our common desire to intensify cooperation on climate change adaptation, safety, food and ecosystems, drinking water & sanitation and governance.
These themes are closely related, with water as a cross-cutting issue.
Without water, our population would have no health, no prosperity, no natural environment and no future.
Therefore, I emphasize that adaptation deserves a fully-fledged position at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, in December this year.
If we are to realise our adaptation ambitions, the international sharing of knowledge is essential.
With the MoU as a solid basis for cooperation, Vietnam and the Netherlands together will draw up a roadmap for adaptation measures in the Mekong River Delta.
We will work on capacity building, for example by setting up training courses for people who will be working on adaptation.
We will share best practices. And our researchers will cooperate more closely.
Our goal is to ensure that the 20 million people living in the Mekong Delta and their future children will be able to continue to live and work in safety for centuries to come.
I am convinced that through this process, we are taking a next step to a climate-proof Mekong Delta.
A safe, dynamic and beautiful delta for this generation, and for future generations.
Thank you very much.