Both Ho Chi Minh City and investors from Australia announced their intention to explore opportunities to strengthen and deepen their green economy cooperation during a meeting held in the city on Monday.

The meeting gathered the city’s senior officials and an Australian delegation led by Professor John Thwaites, chair at the Monash Sustainable Development Institute and the Climateworks Center and former deputy premier of Victoria.

Martine Letts, CEO at Asialink, which is Australia’s national center for Asia capability and engagement, said that Asialink and the Climateworks Center, with support from the Australian government, previously launched the Australia-Vietnam Green Economy Program to foster collaboration between government and business in the green economy.

The program aims to fulfill the green economy's potential, focusing on sustainable development, the creation of jobs and growth, and the transition to renewable resources and net-zero emissions.

As part of the program, the Vietnam-Australia Green Economy Summit took place in the southern Vietnamese city on Tuesday, gathering around 200 industry and green economy representatives.

The summit is considered the first key economic event involving the two countries since Vietnam and Australia elevated their ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership in March this year, the Asialink CEO said.

Australian Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy and Senator Jenny McAllister attended the summit and delivered a keynote speech on how to strengthen climate, environment and energy cooperation.

Several months before the summit took place, the Australian side organized courses providing Australian investors with insights about Vietnam’s business climate and laws, Letts said.

The summit was expected to help investors get deeper knowledge of the opportunities and challenges of realizing Vietnam and Australia’s shared ambition to transition to a clean energy economy, the Asialink leader added.

Speaking at the meeting, Vo Van Hoan, vice-chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City administration, said that the city has encountered lots of challenges in terms of insights, finance, and capacity amid a transition toward a green and sustainable economy.

Therefore, collaborating with countries with prior experience in green economy development like Australia would bring about opportunities for the city, Hoan elaborated.

The vice-chairman went on by saying that the World Bank recently promised to support the city in doing research on green growth over the course of two years.

The city’s green growth rests on three pillars, including developing a policy framework on green growth, creating a set of criteria for quantifying greenhouse gas emissions, and mapping out green growth strategies for each sector.

Hoan underlined the need to develop a more specific cooperation program on green growth with Australian investors, such as teaming up with Asialink to roll out a new program in which both sides organize a vast array of events in terms of sustainable development in various fields.

The municipal administration hosts the Ho Chi Minh City Economic Forum (HEF) annually that gathers more than 1,000 scientists, experts, businesses, and leaders of local authorities to discuss topics on the city’s economic growth.

This year’s edition of the HEF is expected to feature deeper discussions about digital transformation and green economy.

Hence, the city would like to invite Asialink and Climateworks to join the forum to share their experience in the field, the vice-chairman said.

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