PM arrives in Paris for UN climate change conference

Paris (VNA) – Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung arrived in Paris, France, on November 29 for the 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21).

Shortly after his arrival, the PM laid a wreath at a memorial site dedicated to late President Ho Chi Minh in Montreuil city.

The COP21, one of the largest global conferences this year, is expected to attract around 40,000 delegates from governments, intergovernmental organisations, UN agencies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) all over the world. The main goal of the event is to adopt a new global legal framework on climate change in the post-2020 period, to be called the Paris Agreement 2015. Under the agreement, all parties are expected to commit to cutting emissions to restrict the average temperature rise worldwide to below 2 degree C by the end of the 21st century.

The presence of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung at the COP21 demonstrates Vietnam’s deep commitment to international efforts to cope with climate change and seek partnership and support from other countries and international organisations for Vietnam’s response to climate change.

The Government leader is accompanied by ministers and provincial officials, who will hold meetings with their French counterparts on ways to reinforce bilateral engagement.

In the past years, Vietnam and France recorded sound collaboration, with the ties elevated to strategic partnership during a French visit of PM Nguyen Tan Dung in September 2013.

Currently, France is the fifth biggest European trade partner of Vietnam. The two nations generated 3.5 billion USD in bilateral trade revenue in 2014, an annual growth of 11 percent.

France first invested in Vietnam in 1988. By June 2015, the country was ranked second among European investors and 15th among 101 foreign investors in Vietnam. Official statistics showed that France had nearly 430 valid projects in Vietnam with total registered capital reaching more than 3.38 billion USD.

The sides’ cooperation has also gained momentum in education-training, culture-tourism, health, science-technology, and security-defence, among other fields.-VNA