At the working session (Photo: VNA) An Giang (VNA) - A working delegation from the US ConsulateGeneral, led by Defence Attaché Col. Thomas Stevenson, met with authoritiesof the Mekong Delta province of An Giang on November 10 to discuss drought, landslides, andsaltwater intrusion in the locality.
The Mekong Delta is one of three regions hardest hit by climate change,with An Giang being one of the four provinces in the key economic zone to sufferfrom its impact.
Drought in An Giang is the result of a lack of water in the MekongRiver, prolonged hot weather, and low rainfall. In addition to saltwaterintrusion, the province also faces a risk of landslides along riverbanks anddykes totalling nearly 172 km in length.
Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Tran Anh Thu said AnGiang and the US Consulate General have established close cooperative relations in the fieldsof education and training, healthcare, social welfare, and the environment,contributing to the province's socio-economic development and boosting Vietnam-US ties.
He expressed his wish to cooperate with the US via specific and practicalprojects in the near future.
Provincial authorities suggested the US help build a training programmeto improve capacity, launch a pilot model on the use and management of waterresources amid climate change, and conduct a pre-feasibility report and approvea project on a fresh water reservoir to form part of irrigation infrastructure inservice of production in the Long Xuyen Quadrangle.
They also proposed the US cooperate in four projects to build dykes in AnPhu and Tan Chau districts, pilot the installation of water supply systems tobenefit about 350 households in An Hao commune in Tinh Bien district, and studythe development of an early landslide warning system.
Stevenson said the US will send experts to An Giang to survey the flowof the Mekong River as it passes through the Delta, thus proposing measures to helpwith climate change response.
The US delegation also paid a field trip to survey the landslide situationand Tra Su fresh water reservoir in the province./.
