The Ministry of Natural Resource and Environment is working hard to expand cooperation with international partners as part of efforts to implement the Party Politburo’s resolution on international integration.

The ministry signed a cooperation agreement with the State Oceanic Administration of China and five Memoranda of Understanding with Laos on collaboration in dealing with natural resource and environment-related issues in 2013.

At the same time, it also worked closely with Japan to promote low-carbon development in Vietnam , with the Republic of Korea in building databases on air space and land management and with Russia in geology and mineral exploration.

The ministry has been implementing 56 cooperative programmes and projects with foreign partners with a total budget of 455.5 million USD.

During the year, the ministry joined the government negotiation teams on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, the Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement and the free trade agreement with the European Free Trade Association.

The sector also participated in several international events in the field, including the second Asia-Pacific Water Summit in Thailand , the second East Asia Low Carbon Growth Partnership Dialogue in Japan and the second session of the Ad-hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action in Germany .

The ties with donors have been expanded, resulting in nearly 1 billion USD in aid and preferential loans for the nation’s programmes and projects to cope with climate change since 2010.

This year, the ministry plans to sign Memoranda of Understanding on cooperation with Japan and Poland , and start working on a similar agreement with Turkey, while considering a tripartite cooperative partnership with the Netherlands and Mozambique .

Other tasks in 2014 for the ministry include preparations for Vietnam’s attendance in the 12 th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, the 20 th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the 10 th session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol.-VNA