Minister Do Duc Duy works with the Minister of Manpower and the Ministry of Trade and Industry of Singapore

The two sides discussed climate change, environmental protection, attracting foreign investment, guiding new regulations on land access for FDI enterprises in the industrial, urban and service sectors, sustainable development cooperation, marine economy, offshore wind power development, enhancing high-quality human resource training and cooperation orientations between the two ministries and localities in the coming time.

At the meeting, the two Ministers reviewed the 50-year dipplomatic  relationship between the two countries and more than 10 years of the Viet Nam-Singapore strategic partnership. The two Ministers acknowledged that cooperation between the two countries has achieved many important results, contributing to promoting bilateral relations to a new level of development.

Talking with Minister Do Duc Duy, Minister Tan See Leng was pleased that in recent times, Viet Nam and Singapore have improved the quality of cooperation in the fields of resources, environment and sustainable development.

To achieve these results, Minister Do Duc Duy highly appreciated the Singapore Embassy in Viet Nam as one of the partners that regularly cooperates with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Viet Nam in areas such as environmental protection, climate change response, sustainable development of marine economy, etc.

Deploying task forces to implement Article 6 of the Paris Agreement and develop offshore wind power

Discussing the field of climate change, the two Ministers reiterated the Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement within the framework of the State visit to Viet Nam by the President of Singapore on October 17, 2022.

In order to implement the content of the Memorandum of Understanding, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Viet Nam has coordinated with the National Climate Change Secretariat of Singapore and relevant agencies of Singapore to exchange and share information and experience on implementing carbon tax policies, carbon credit markets, and managing and developing greenhouse gas mitigation activities.

Singapore also proposed a number of greenhouse gas emission reduction activities to pilot the exchange of greenhouse gas emission reduction results achieved to contribute to the emission reduction targets under the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) of both countries. At the same time, coordinate to develop a draft Implementation Agreement under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement between the two Government  of Viet Nam and Singapore.

On the Vietnamese side, the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment established a Working Group to negotiate the Pilot Agreement for implementation under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, including representatives of Vietnamese ministries and sectors.

To continue implementing the Memorandum of Understanding, Minister Do Duc Duy said that he will continue to direct the Department of Climate Change (Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment) to preside over working with the Negotiating Group of the Agreement on the Vietnamese side and the focal agency of the Singaporean side to: Exchange, negotiate, and develop a Cooperation Agreement under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement with a number of specific projects in accordance with the provisions of the Law on International Treaties (legally binding) and in accordance with the guidelines for implementing the provisions of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement adopted at the recent COP29 Conference.

Speaking with Minister Do Duc Duy, Minister Tan See Leng said that with the roadmap to achieve zero net emissions by 2050, Singapore plans to import 4 GW of clean electricity from countries in the region (expected to increase to 6 GW) by 2035.

With the cooperation agreements between Viet Nam and Singapore, the two Ministers expect to cooperate to implement a project to generate electricity from offshore renewable energy sources in Viet Nam and export it to Singapore via a high-voltage submarine cable, meeting Singapore's clean electricity needs from 2030. Minister Do Duc Duy assessed this as a milestone in the cooperation journey between Viet Nam and Singapore.

Comprehensive cooperation to address national, regional and global issues

At the meeting, the two Ministers agreed on many cooperation contents to exchange experiences and enhance capacity between the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment with the Ministry of Manpower, the Ministry of Trade and Industry of Singapore and other Singaporean partners.

In the field of Marine Environmental Resources Management, including: monitoring, investigating, surveying, and evaluating marine resources; exchanging marine management policies of the two countries through many forms such as visits, study tours, seminars, and international forums.

Field of Environmental Protection, Urban Waste Management, Air Quality Management, Strengthening Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).

On responding to climate change: Continue to improve policies on green economy, circular economy, low-carbon economy; train human resources affected by the energy transition, train high-quality human resources in which Singapore currently has strengths.

Minister Do Duc Duy believes that the strategic partnership between the two countries in general and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Ministry of Trade and Industry of Singapore in particular will be further strengthened, especially in the context that the world  is facing serious challenges regarding climate change and sustainable development of the marine economy.

“We look forward to continuing to work closely with the Singapore Ministry of Trade and Industry, Singapore’s partners and the Singapore Embassy in Hanoi  in the coming time to jointly implement cooperation activities that contribute to solving national, regional and global issues,” said Minister Do Duc Duy.

In an exchange with Minister Tan See Leng to attract Singaporean FDI enterprises to invest in Viet Nam, Minister Do Duc Duy shared some new contents in the Land Law to help enterprises feel secure in investing.