Vietnam Deputy PM embarks on visit to the Netherlands

The Hague, September 23 (VNA) – Vietnam and the Netherlands agreed to cooperate more closely on climate change, water management, agriculture, energy, and marine-based economic activities, including logistics and shipbuilding. This agreement was reached between Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai and the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte in The Hague, the Netherlands, on September 22. Built on their strategic partnership on sustainable agriculture and food security established this June, bilateral ties will encompass the exchange of visits at different levels and scientific-technological cooperation between numerous localities. The Dutch government and businesses were keen to foster comprehensive collaboration with Vietnam and back the country’s efforts to enhance ties with the European Union, Rutte said. Deputy PM Hai, in turn, made it clear that Vietnam had always wished for closer ties with the Netherlands, considering it one of its top partners in Europe. Both host and guest agreed to hold cultural exchanges more frequently, with Rutte praising the annual “Vietnam Days in the Netherlands”. Since the strategic partnership on climate change response and water management was set up in 2010, Vietnam and the Netherlands have seen their efforts bear fruit, they noted. That same day, Hai and the Dutch Minister of Infrastructure and the Environment Melanie Schultz co-chaired the fourth meeting of the Inter-Governmental Committee on Climate Change and Water Management. Looking into the Mekong Delta plan, they pledged to accelerate the implementation of priority projects and call for foreign funding along the way. In 2015, the committee will focus on a set of sustainable and climate-proof urban management practices, and conduct research on retaining water in the Mekong Delta. On the occasion, both sides discussed the details of a water resources master plan for the Red River basin. At the end of the meeting, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Nguyen Thai Lai and Minister Schultz signed a memorandum of understanding on the master plan. The fifth meeting of this kind will take place in Hanoi next year. During his September 22-24 visit, Hai is due to meet Mayor of Amsterdam E.E. Van der Laan to officiate the “Vietnam Days in the Netherlands” and the Vietnam-Netherlands economic cooperation forum.-VNA