Welcoming the Minister of Environment of the Czech Republic (Czech Republic) Petr Hladík and his delegation to visit and work with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Deputy Minister Vo Tuan Nhan highly appreciated the cooperation between Vietnam and the Czech Republic over the past 70 years. Up to now, the relationship between the two countries has been constantly consolidated and developed. Currently, the two countries are promoting bilateral cooperation in many fields, including: politics, diplomacy, trade and economy, culture, education, people's diplomacy and natural resources and environment. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment is assigned by the Government to uniformly manage natural resources and environment in 9 fields. "All fields are ready and have potential to cooperate with the Czech Republic, especially in fields where the Czech Republic has strengths such as environmental protection, environmental treatment technology, geological exploration, and mineral exploitation," the Deputy Minister shared.

Respecting the suggestion of Deputy Minister Vo Tuan Nhan, Minister Petr Hladík expressed his wish to deepen and concretize cooperation with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Vietnam based on the advantages and needs of each side. For the Czech Republic, the areas of interest are water treatment, waste treatment, circular economy and accompanying in adapting to climate change in Vietnam.

Following Minister Petr Hladík, Deputy Minister Vo Tuan Nhan emphasized that Vietnam is one of the countries most affected by climate change. Accordingly, at the 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (COP26), the Vietnamese Government committed to achieving the goal of reducing net emissions to “zero” by 2050.

To achieve this goal, Vietnam has legally included climate change response in the 2020 Law on Environmental Protection and issued decrees, circulars, and the National Strategy on Climate Change Response. In addition, Vietnam also has many projects, programs, and plans towards the net zero target by 2050, including the transition to renewable energy such as solar and wind power.

Emphasizing this content, Deputy Minister Vo Tuan Nhan said: “Developing renewable energy is a major energy conversion policy of the Government. According to the Government's assignment, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment is developing a national marine spatial plan, as a basis for developing offshore wind power. Along with that, Vietnam is also developing a solar energy center, including a proposal to develop solar energy in industrial parks. The environmental issue is the treatment and recycling of solar panels after use. This could be a cooperation activity between the two sides in the near future.”

In addition to energy conversion, the development of a circular economy is also a focus area in Vietnam. According to Deputy Minister Vo Tuan Nhan, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment is the unified management agency for the treatment of domestic solid waste. Vietnam has included in the Law on Environmental Protection the requirement to classify waste at source and aims to apply different technologies to recycle domestic waste. Currently, Vietnam has waste-to-energy incineration plants, aiming at the following goals: fast waste treatment, no land use, and direct energy supply.

To promote the circular economy, by August 2023, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment had completed Draft No. 01 of the National Action Plan for the implementation of the circular economy. The content of the Draft National Action Plan for the implementation of the circular economy sets out the viewpoints, objectives, tasks, and implementation solutions, while identifying priority sectors and fields in the circular economy implementation roadmap and applying criteria and indicators to evaluate the implementation of the circular economy in that field.

In the field of geology and minerals, Vietnam is currently amending the Law on Minerals into the Law on Geology and Minerals, expected to be submitted to the National Assembly by the end of 2023. At the same time, Vietnam plans to implement a national geological baseline survey program, expected to investigate from the mainland to the sea. The Deputy Minister proposed that the Czech Republic support the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment in developing the Law on Geology and Minerals; building a system of information and data bases in areas where the Czech Republic has strengths.

Listening to the opinions of Deputy Minister Vo Tuan Nhan, Minister Petr Hladík highly appreciated Vietnam's efforts, plans and orientations in environmental resources issues. At the same time, the Minister of Environment of the Czech Republic expressed his willingness to cooperate with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. In the coming time, the two sides will implement cooperation contents through practical and specific programs and projects./.