Vietnam needs active support from the francophone community in sharing experiences in institutional mechanism, solutions and resources to cope with climate change and to establish a mechanism for the exchange of parliamentary information on sustainable development and climate change between Vietnam and France.

This was raised at a seminar on environment, climate change and the role of legislative bodies in policy making, held in Hanoi on Dec. 15.

Addressing the event, Chairman of the Vietnamese National Assembly’s Committee for External Relations Nguyen Van Son welcomed the participation of the delegation of the Francophone Parliament Alliance (APF), representatives of a number of APF sub-committees, experts from the Francophone Institute for Energy and the Environment (IEPF) and delegates from the Lao and Vanuatu parliaments.

Poor countries, including francophone member countries, are victims of climate change, said Son.

He said he believed that the seminar would put forward useful proposals to enhance multilateral cooperation in coping with climate change.

Chairman of the APF’s Vietnam subcommittee Ngo Quang Xuan, Secretary General of Administration for the APF Jean Luc Lala and representatives from OIF and IEPF said environmental protection, development issues and biodiversity are the APF’s interests.

The seminar affirmed APF members’ pledge to enhance cooperation for sustainable development, cultural diversity and environmental protection for future generations.

The participants focused on assessing the impacts of projects, policy, the convention on biological diversity and the Cartagena Protocol on biodiversity on the environment, biodiversity in socio-economic fields, the role of MPs and the negotiation of multilateral agreements on environment, the convention on climate change and the Kyoto Protocol and the role of the NA in sustainable development and coping with climate change in Vietnam.

They recommended Vietnam issue a resolution on coping with climate change and mobilise sources for the work, promptly issue laws on disaster prevention and control and increase budgets for carrying out solutions to cope with climate change.

It is necessary to prepare for climate change adaptation and combine policies with socio-economic development policies, assist regions worst hit by climate change in Vietnam, help poor people and speed up the implementation of hunger eradication and poverty reduction programmes./.