Vietnam’s efforts to accelerate green growth were boosted on Wednesday with the launch of a new four-year US$4.128 million project, according to the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi. 

The “Strengthening Capacity and Institutional Reform for Green Growth and Sustainable Development in Vietnam” (CIGG) project was introduced yesterday as part of the framework of the partnership between the Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to advance the Southeast Asian country’s green growth strategy. At the launching ceremony of the initiative, Nguyen The Phuong, Vice Minister of the MPI, was joined by Pratibha Mehta, the UNDP Resident Representative in Vietnam, and the U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam, Ted Osius. Led by the Vietnamese ministry, the CIGG project is intended to support capacity building and policy development for the effective implementation of Vietnam’s national green growth strategy and achievement of sustainable development goals. Assistance will be provided at the national and provincial levels to integrate green growth and low-carbon development into sectoral and provincial green growth action plans. “With the release of Vietnam’s Green Growth Strategy in 2012, and the Green Growth Action Plan last year, we are amongst the pioneering countries in the region taking a leadership role in green growth. This new initiative will further our ambitions in green investment and help us to integrate new policy directions for greener growth in Vietnam into the next five year Socio-Economic Development Plan,” noted Vice Minister Nguyen The Phuong in his opening speech. Addressing the event, Pratibha Mehta, UNDP Resident Representative in Vietnam, stressed that, “taking action on climate change makes good business sense. Green investment is good investment.” As she thanked USAID for its financial contribution to this important initiative, she also noted that “it will be forward-looking countries, companies, and investors that will lead the transition to greener economies and reap the most reward.” “This project will assist Vietnam in a number of critical green growth-related areas,” said U.S. Ambassador Ted Osius. “It will strengthen the capacity for the Ministries of Planning and Investment, Finance, and Transportation, as well as provinces to effectively implement and monitor the Vietnam Green Growth Strategy and Action Plan. The project will help develop policies for promoting investment in green growth development and improve access to green growth financing for Vietnam.” The MPI will review the country’s investment policy framework and work with the Ministry of Finance to assess fiscal tools to identify gaps and potential for reforms that will accelerate Vietnam’s transition to a greener economy. Together with the Ministry of Transportation, the MPI will review incentives for investment in energy-efficient transportation networks. By focusing on removing barriers to green growth, the initiative is expected to support new public-private partnerships to take advantage of new green investment opportunities. Vietnam is among a growing number of developing countries looking to spur investment in green innovation and improve the efficiency of natural resources use, while simultaneously improving the resilience of the whole country as well as the poor and vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Through this partnership with UNDP and the U.S. government, the MPI will work with other ministries, provinces, business, research institutes and development partners to meet the implementation targets in the national green growth strategy.

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