A ceremony to mark 25 years of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer and the Int’l Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer was held in Ho Chi Minh City on Sept. 15.

At the event, Deputy Head of the Department of Hydro-Meteorological and Climate Change Nguyen Khac Hieu said Vietnam joined the Montreal Protocol in January, 1994.

The UN Environmental Programme praised Vietnam ’s active contributions to the Montreal Protocol as the nation has completely eradicated 500 tonnes of chlorofluorocarbon ( CFC ) and 3.8 tonnes of halon since the start of 2010.

Hieu said Vietnam can completely deplete other ozone destroying substances in 2025 with international organisations’ financial assistance and technology.

With the World Bank’s funding of more than 9.7 million USD, Vietnam has drafted the first phase of a project to manage the depletion of HCFCs in Vietnam from 2012-2016 which aims to replace HCFC-141b used in the production of insulated foam with cyclopentane technology and increase the capacity of Vietnam’s customs agency in controlling HCFCs import-export.

The second phase of the project worth 15 million USD will be deployed after 2016 in order to completely end the use of HCFCs in Vietnam.-VNA