Vietnam has made encouraging achievements in sustainable developmentover the past few years, according to information communicated at apress briefing held in Hanoi on Nov. 2.
The briefing wasorganised by the United Nations Development Programme and the Ministryof Planning and Investment in order to introduce Rio+20 — the UNconference on sustainable development that is scheduled to take place inRio de Janeiro next June — and discuss Vietnam's participation andprogress in the relevant areas.
According to Nguyen Le Thuy,deputy head of the Department of Science, Education, Natural Resourcesand Environment (DSENRE), in recent years Vietnam has issued importantdocuments to promote sustainable development, including a circular in2005 to implement Agenda 21 set out at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio.
Inaddition to the establishment of the national overseeing body and theoffice for sustainable development, steering committees for the samepurpose were also formed in several State agencies and localities.
Thuysaid a draft of the sustainable development plan for Vietnam for2011-20 had been submitted to the Prime Minister and is being revised.
A national action plan for sustainable development for 2011-15 is also being developed, she added.
Vietnamhas also managed to considerably reduce unemployment and the number ofpoor households by creating jobs for more than 8 million people.
Thuy said the country achieved most of the millennium objectives set out by the United Nations.
Vietnamis now performing several important activities to prepare for Rio+20.In addition to the report on sustainable development, the Rio delegationis currently being formed, which would be led by a Deputy PrimeMinister.
Rio+20 will draw thousands of participants fromgovernments, the private sector, non-governmental organisations andother stakeholders.
The event will address how to build a greeneconomy and achieve sustainable development in order to lift people outof poverty, including support for developing countries. It will alsodiscuss ways to improve international co-ordination for sustainabledevelopment./.