Vietnam is willing to cooperate with countries and exchangeexperiences in water resource management and coping with naturaldisasters.

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhanmade the affirmation during the plenary session of the secondAsia-Pacific Water Summit (APWS) in Chiang Mai , Thailand on May20.

Nhan said Vietnam , like other countries inthe Asia-Pacific region, is facing great challenges in water securityand natural disasters in the context of global climate change.

Natural disasters have claimed around 400 lives in Vietnam andcaused damage equal to 1.2 percent of Gross Domestic Product ( GDP )each year over the past decade.

In efforts to copewith the challenges, Vietnam has promulgated and implementedstrategies on water security and water-related disaster prevention, hesaid.

The Deputy Prime Minister called forratification of the UN Convention on the Law of International WaterResources Utilisation, strengthened cooperation and experience sharingin water resource management and exploitation, and a regional commonstrategy on water resource management towards a sustainable developmentgoal.

He affirmed that Vietnam attaches importanceto and has been proactively cooperating in water resource managementwith countries it shares rivers, especially the Mekong River .

Participants reached consensus on the need to work out an action planin the context of increasing challenges posed by floods in Asia-Pacific -the region most affected by natural disasters in the world.

The summit issued the Chiang Mai declaration , indicating regional leaders’ interest in and commitment to the problem.

On the sidelines of the summit, Deputy PM Nhan paid a courtesy visitto Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. The two sides affirmed to furtherreinforce cooperation towards the establishment of a strategicpartnership between the two countries, scheduled for this year.-VNA