Deputy Minister Hoang Van Thang: APEC is an opportunity to promote Nghe An

(Baonghean.vn) - Speaking to Nghe An Newspaper on the sidelines of the 11th APEC Senior Officials' Meeting on Disaster Management taking place in Vinh City, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Hoang Van Thang said that choosing Nghe An as the venue for the conference is meaningful.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Hoang Van Thang spoke with Nghe An Newspaper on the sidelines of the Conference.

PV:Mr. Deputy Minister, can you tell us what is the purpose and significance of this conference for APEC economies in general and Vietnam in particular?

Deputy Minister Hoang Van Thang:In recent years, cooperation in the field of disaster risk reduction has been practical and effective. In the process of responding to natural disasters at the global level, every economy faces challenges, so cooperation in this field is considered one of the responsibilities that need to be shared, and the conference is an opportunity to further connect APEC member economies in disaster management.

Within the framework of the conference, the Secretariat is preparing recommendations to submit to the APEC Summit in the coming time for APEC economic leaders to make decisions, and I believe APEC members will be in agreement on this issue.

It must be noted that currently, APEC member economies are making great efforts to support Vietnam in disaster risk reduction, for example, Japan is helping us a lot in flood management.

In the near future, the Huong River basin in Thua Thien Hue will be managed by a project supported by Japan's JICA at the current international level. Right in the Ca River basin in Nghe An, the New Zealand government has helped the locality through a project on flood management and dam infrastructure.

International organizations such as the World Bank (WB) also support flood management in the Central region and climate change in the Mekong Delta region... Vietnam is also making efforts to share its lessons learned with other economies.

PV:Is the choice of Nghe An as the venue for the Senior Officials' Conference on Disaster Management a coincidence or does it have any other meaning, Deputy Minister?

Deputy Minister Hoang Van Thang:Within the framework of APEC 2017, there are many thematic conferences held in provinces and cities across the country. For example, recently we held a food security week in Can Tho - very meaningful as this is the center of the Mekong Delta, the center of world agriculture.

For this conference, choosing Nghe An as the venue also has many meanings. First of all, this is the hometown of President Ho Chi Minh, a place that many international friends admire and wish to visit.

Nghe An is also a locality that has to endure many natural disasters such as storms, floods, etc. Moreover, the leadership and direction capacity of Nghe An provincial government is very good, the people have a high level of education, good facilities and infrastructure, etc.

These are the criteria on which we base our selection of the venue for the 11th Senior Officials' Conference on Disaster Management.

PV:Dear Deputy Minister, what should Nghe An do to take advantage of this opportunity to further improve its capacity to respond to natural disasters in the new situation?

Deputy Minister Hoang Van Thang:First of all, I think this conference is an opportunity for Nghe An to strengthen communication and propaganda work. Through that, people will be more interested and have a deeper awareness of disaster prevention work.

Not only that, for Nghe An disaster management officials, this is a good opportunity to learn valuable experiences in disaster prevention from experts in the Asia-Pacific region.

And this event is also a place for us to promote the locality, bringing the image of a developing and integrating Nghe An closer to delegates from APEC member economies.

PV Group

(Perform)