Speaking at the meeting, Mr Joop Scheffers said, Netherlands Government appreciated the results of the last Summit on development assistance in the Mekong River in last December. In the coming time, the two governments will co-organize high level conference on the Mekong River Development Plan. In preparation for this meeting, Ambassador of the Netherlands to Viet Nam proposed the enthusiastic help related to the participants and the content of the conference from the Vietnam Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

Accordingly, the on-going Summit on June 17, Vietnam will represent a speech on sustainable planning of the Mekong River Delta, in which deal with the opportunities and challenges for guiding regional sustainable development effectively. Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung will have a commitment to continue sustainable development in the Mekong River Delta. The Netherlands and the development partners like the World Bank, ADB, JICA will continue their supports in the Mekong Delta.

Overview of the meeting

Welcome and thank to the Embassy’s consultation on the preparation of the Summit, Deputy Minister Tran Hong Ha said that the Ministry with a role of managing and coordinating in Vietnam – Netherlands intergovernmental committee on climate change adaptation and water management, the Ministry will be active and keep regular communication with relevant ministries, agencies and localities to coordinate the preparations. "On Monday morning next week, the Ministry will give formal comments to the Embassy for organizing this conference" said the Deputy Minister.

Exchanging a number of cooperative areas between the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Vietnam and the Government of the Netherlands, Deputy Minister Tran Hong Ha said that the Minister appreciated the active support of the Netherlands government in the implementation of the project named Strengthening Capacity for Hanoi Natural Resources and Environment University. This project has brought a significant improvement in training quality in integrated management of water resources and teaching capacity. He also proposed that in the coming time the Netherlands government will continue to increase investment for projects in the University of Natural Resources and Environment so as to further improve teaching competencies and training in this field.