Hamburg (VNA) – Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phucdelivered a strong plea for international cooperation in fighting climatechange while addressing a panel discussion of the G20 Summit in Hamburg,Germany, on July 7.

The Vietnamese leader was the keynote speaker ofthe discussion on sustainable development, climate change, and energy.

He stressed Vietnam is one of the countries tobe most vulnerable to climate change and negative impacts of unsustainableexploitation of water resources of the Mekong River.

He reaffirmed the country’s commitment to earlyachievement of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations,adding that the priorities would be reducing poverty, addressing inequality,improving education, promoting renewable energy and coping with climate change.

"Vietnam has been continuing to integrateclimate change preparedness into its development planning, and is fullycommitted to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 8 percent by 2030, and evenupwards of 25 percent if the country receives necessary support from the internationalcommunity," he said.

As the host of the Asia-Pacific EconomicCooperation (APEC) 2017, Vietnam has pushed the agenda for sustainabledevelopment, climate change response and efficient energy use. It iscooperating with APEC member economies to promote inclusive development, henoted.

The PM applauded G20 for its unanimouscommitment to responsible and efficient management and use of water resources.He also asked G20 members and the international community at large for morefinancial and technological support to developing countries in achieving theSDGs.

Vietnam is participating in the G20 Summit asthe host of APEC 2017. This is the third time it has taken part in a G20Summit. In 2010, it was present at the summits in Canada and the Republic ofKorea as the chair of ASEAN.

The 2017 G20 Summit in Hamburg draws leaders ofthe G20 members and the guest countries of Vietnam, Singapore, Spain, Norway,Guinea (the chair of the African Union), and Senegal (the chair of the NewPartnership for Africa’s Development). It is also attended by leaders ofleading international organisations such as the UN, the International MonetaryFund (IMF), the World Bank (WB), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation andDevelopment (OECD), the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the WorldTrade Organisation (WTO), and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Themed “Shaping an interconnected world”, thesummit discussed an array of important issues of global economy such as growth,trade, investment, international finance, sustainable development, climatechange, energy, support to Africa, migration, health care, employment, digitalisation,and women.-VNA