Vietnam and China will speed up the exchange of hydro-meteorological data and expand the scope of cooperation in this field to reduce the damage due to natural disasters.

The agreement was reached by visiting Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE) Nguyen Thai Lai and Chinese Deputy Minister of Water Resources E Jingping during their talks in Beijing on November 16.

The two sides affirmed that the exchange of hydro-meteorological data between the two countries has seen certain results, contributing to preventing and minimising the damage caused by floods and droughts relating to cross-border rivers.

At the working session, the two deputy ministers signed a memorandum of understanding on hydro-meteorological data exchange between the two ministries.

They also witnessed the signing of a plan between Vietnam ’s National Centre for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region’s Hydrography Department on Vietnam ’s provision of hydro-meteorological data relating cross-border rivers to China .

During their stay in China from Nov. 15-20, the MoNRE delegation will study irrigation work in Zhengzhou city, Henan province./.