Climate change is a particular priority of the Australian government’s diplomatic policy, so Australia is working to help the Mekong Delta region in Vietnam strengthen climate change adaptation, Ciaran Chestnutt, Deputy Consul-General of Australia in Ho Chi Minh City, told a media tour briefing in Can Tho City on Monday.

The Consulate-General of Australia in Ho Chi Minh City is organizing a Mekong media tour that runs through Friday to introduce Australia’s commitment and activities in the delta.

The Mekong Delta is important to Vietnam as it accounts for some 70 percent of the country’s seafood farming.

However, the region is facing challenges like poor infrastructure and vulnerability in terms of climate. 

“That is why much of Australia’s official development assistance [ODA] to Vietnam heads to the Mekong Delta region,” Chestnutt said.

Since 2000, Australia has delivered more than AUD650 million (US$427 million) in ODA to the Mekong Delta region.

In 2020, Australia announced the AUD232 million ($152.3 million) first phase of the Mekong Australia Partnership (MAP) to bolster the subregion’s resilience and inclusive and sustainable growth.

 Under the environmental resilience pillar of MAP, projects have been delivered regionally in Southeast Asia using ODA funding, including in the Mekong Delta. 

At the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit in Australia in March 2024, Penny Wong, Minister for Foreign Affairs, announced the AUD222.5 million ($146 million) second phase of MAP over the next five years, with a focus on improving water security, responding to climate change, combating transnational crime, and promoting gender and social inclusion.  

Separately, under the Australia-Vietnam Enhanced Economic Engagement Strategy (VEEES, as part of the MAP), non-ODA funding has been provided to grow bilateral trade and investment in southern Vietnam.

During the visit in August 2023, Wong announced a package of Support for Climate Change Adaptation in the Mekong Delta worth AUD$94.5 million ($62 million) for the 2023-34 period.

Furthermore, the Australian Center for International Agricultural Research, an Australian government statutory agency that forms part of the overseas aid program in foreign affairs and trade portfolios, has been implementing various projects in the Mekong Delta region to help farmers produce high yields, with a total investment of over AUD19 million ($12.5 million) since 1995.

The center is also executing the Transforming Rice Value Chains project worth AUD$17 million ($11.2 million) in the 2023-27 period. 

The project, launched in January, is aimed at incentivizing companies in the Mekong Delta to shift to low emissions and sustainable rice cultivation technologies.

If appropriately incentivized, the private sector will overcome market barriers and create and/or scale technologies that address key sustainability challenges that will benefit small farming households.

The Mekong Delta region is facing multiple challenges, thereby receiving backing from several nations, including Australia, Nguyen Phuong Lam, director of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry - Can Tho Branch, said at the media tour briefing.

Among them are saline intrusion, a shortage of clean water, the high rate of unskilled workers, much reliance on agriculture, the modest number of businesses, low economic growth, weak foreign direct investment attraction, and a high unemployment rate, he pinpointed.

The relationship between Australia and Vietnam is stronger than it has ever been, Chestnutt underlined.

Just two weeks ago, Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh visited Australia, and the leaders of the two nations announced the elevation of the two countries’ relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership, the highest level in the Southeast Asian country's international relations.

“Our relationship is really strong based on a complementary economy, mutual interest, and the peoples of the two countries,” he said.

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