Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Alok Kumar Sharma, British Cabinet Minister and President for COP26 (Photo: TRAN HAI/NDO)

The PM expressed his delight at the fast, strong, and comprehensive development of the Vietnam - UK strategic partnership in the recent past, as well as the two sides’ fruitful cooperation in economy, politics, diplomacy, and capitalisation of the Vietnam - UK Free Trade Agreement.

He thanked the UK, especially the AstraZeneca company, for the timely provision of vaccine and medical supplies for Vietnam in COVID-19 response.

PM Chinh said the Vietnamese Party and State view climate change response as one of the difficult but urgent tasks, noting that the country has been actively and proactively joining hands with the international community to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change, and considers this as a chance to switch to a green, circular, and low-carbon development model.

Since COP26, Vietnam has been seriously and swiftly taking actions to realise its commitments as seen in the establishment of a national steering committee for implementing its pledges made at the conference, and the PM is head of this committee.

The country is working hard to perfect the relevant legal framework; build detailed plans, measures, and roadmaps; overhaul related strategies and plans; and mobilise investment resources for climate-resilient infrastructure in order to carry out the commitments, he noted.

The Government leader asked Sharma, as COP26 President, to continue helping promote Vietnam’s cooperation with the UK and development partners to assist the country to implement those commitments and the global initiatives on emissions reduction and climate change adaptation.

He called for support for Vietnam to connect with the financial institutions and credit organisations able to provide financial aid and credit for the country similar to the Just Energy Transition Partnership that the UK, France, Germany, the US, and the European Union signed with South Africa.

Vietnam also needs assistance to set up a domestic carbon market linked with the international one; establish a renewable energy centre to boost human resources training, technology transfer, and sharing of legal and country governance experience; and align legal regulations with the promises at COP26, according to Chinh.

For his part, Sharma spoke highly of Vietnam’s strong commitments and leadership in the region while welcoming the country’s swift and comprehensive actions, along with efforts by the Government, the Prime Minister, ministries, and sectors to ensure the pledges are implemented in reality.

He affirmed the readiness to cooperate and share experience with Vietnam to help carry out the commitments, stressing that the energy transition process is key to its climate commitments since 70 percent of the country’s gas emissions is from the energy sector.

The UK will assist Vietnam to access and mobilise necessary financial sources during this process, the COP26 President added.