A meeting was held in coastal Vung Tau city on June 5 to mark Vietnam’s Sea and Islands Week, World Environment Day (June 5) and World Oceans Day (June 8).

The theme of this year's Sea and Islands Week is ‘Vietnam will become stronger and prosperous from the sea’, World Environment Day’s theme is ‘Green economy: Does it include you’ and the theme for Oceans Day is ‘Youth: The next wave for change’.

These themes require each citizen, especially the younger generation, to get together and promote the value of the marine and island environment to help with sustainable development.

At the meeting, senior officials from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment said that every Vietnamese citizen, every organisation and business should take responsibility for protecting the environment, the sea and the country’s islands.

Vietnam has sovereignty over 1 million km2 of sea and continental shelf, more than 3,260km of coastline and over 3,000 archipelagos and islands.

To tap into the full potential the sea and islands have to offer, the country’s strategy to develop the maritime economy is just one of the five key parts of the national strategy for economic development from now until 2020 and beyond.

Ba Ria-Vung Tau province has led the way in taking advantage of the sea and islands’ potential for economic growth. With its maritime economy making up such a large proportion of the province’s economic structure, it has paid special attention to socio-economic development while protecting the environment, bio-diversity and natural resources.-VNA