Vietnam will closely cooperate with the international community in responding to global climate change, Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Hong Ha has said.

The Deputy Minister met with the press on Dec. 15 to announce the result of the 17 th Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 7 th Session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties (CMP7) to the Kyoto Protocol, which took place in Durban, South Africa, from Nov. 28-Dec. 11.

He said the head of the Vietnamese delegation delivered a speech at the conference’s high level session to inform the conference about Vietnam ’s initiatives and activities in response to climate change and highlight Vietnam ’s views on establishing international agreements to implement the Climate Convention and Kyoto Protocol in 2012.

Apart from attending official meetings in the framework of the conferences, the delegation also held almost 20 bilateral meetings with delegations of other countries which have cooperated with Vietnam in the field of climate change or are seeking cooperative opportunities with Vietnam in this field.

According to Deputy Minister Ha, officials of the United Nation’s Environment Programme (UNEP) spoke highly of Vietnam ’s completion of the second national announcement on the Climate Convention at a bilateral working session. The UNEP also affirmed that it is willing to provide non-refundable aid and technical assistance to help Vietnam build the third announcement on Climate Convention at the beginning of 2012.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment will carry out necessary works to gain access to financial resources and technical and scientific achievements on green growth and further bilateral cooperation in response to climate change and disaster prevention, as well as enact new regulations on emission management, forest recovery and environmental protection./.