Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has set out a series of proposals at the second Asia Zero-Emission Community (AZEC) Leaders’ Meeting in Laos, while urging countries to take more drastic actions toward achieving net-zero emissions across Asia soon.

The Vietnamese government chief made his proposals while attending the event on Friday, which was chaired by Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, as part of the 44th and 45th ASEAN Summits and related meetings in Vientiane, Laos.

He called on countries to take more vigorous actions, based on a stronger will and determination, in responding to climate change, aiming to achieve the goal of net zero emissions in the entire Asia as soon as possible.

To achieve this goal, Vietnam has been strongly applying many national strategies, policies and projects on climate change adaptation, green growth, renewable energy development, low-emission agriculture and transport, carbon credit market, and green business and procurement, Chinh said.

He told the audience that Vietnam's priority is to attract green investment and finance sources in the field of green technology in the spirit of ‘harmonized benefits, shared risks,’ ensuring the harmony of interests between the State, enterprises and people.

Speaking in favor of the idea of establishing an ASEAN electricity market by connecting power through undersea cable systems, Chinh called on countries involved to proceed with negotiations toward establishing an intergovernmental agreement on this market.

He proposed that AZEC member countries accelerate research, development, and transfer of new-generation energy technologies to help minimize greenhouse gas emissions in all economic sectors.

The PM called for setting up sustainable supply chains for green fuels to ensure regional energy security and promote energy transition in accordance with the specific circumstances, capacity, and development priorities of each country.

Chinh emphasized the promotion of new climate finance models, especially based on public-private partnerships, including the establishment of a separate AZEC fund for green projects, to facilitate developing countries in accessing larger concessional loans.

AZEC countries should strengthen policy coordination through the ‘Asia Zero Emissions Center’ and enhance cooperation in training high-quality human resources and smart governance for the green and energy technology sector in every country, Chinh suggested. 

Leaders of ASEAN countries and Australia once again applauded the AZEC Leaders’ Meeting, first launched last year following the initiative of former Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, considering it an important forum for member countries to share information on efforts towards the goal of net zero emissions.

They underscored the importance of the ‘AZEC principle’ with the goal of ‘three breakthroughs,’ including responding to climate change, promoting inclusive economic growth, and ensuring energy security in Asia.

Member leaders re-affirmed their determination to develop clean, sustainable and low-cost energy; strengthen cooperation in creating new energy sources such as hydrogen and geothermal energy; and promote public-private partnerships in developing regional clean energy projects.

The meeting wrapped up by adopting the AZEC Leaders’ Joint Statement as a foundation for member countries to proceed with cooperation activities.

As a platform for cooperation towards carbon neutrality/net-zero emissions in Asia, AZEC currently has 11 partner countries, including Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

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