Asia-Europe Meeting on Climate Change opens in Vietnam

The Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) on Climate Change opened on Monday in Vietnam's northern province of Quang Ninh, Vietnam News Agency reported.

The two-day meeting, hosted by Vietnamese Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, drew more than 150 representatives from Vietnam, Denmark, Netherlands, Germany, Britain, Spain, South Korea, Japan, India, Australia and Indonesia among others.

Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Hong Ha said at the meeting that Vietnam is one of the countries that are hardest hit by climate change.

Climate change is a challenge to Vietnam's goal of poverty reduction and elimination and sustainable development.

With full awareness of this problem, Vietnam is actively joining in regional and global efforts to combat climate change. The country has ratified the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Kyoto Protocol, said Ha.

The meeting provides a chance to discuss measures to effectively implement the Vietnamese government's Action Programme on the Development of Vietnam-European Union (EU) Relations until 2010 and Orientations to 2015, especially in the area of natural resources and environment.

Through this mechanism, EU and its members will share experience with Vietnam in combating climate change and assist Vietnam in adaptation to climate change, said the report.

During the meeting, representatives will discuss the impacts of climate change, opportunities and challenges to the low-carbon economies and ASEM cooperation among global efforts to create recommendations and initiatives to cope with climate change, according to the report.