 A view of Cat Ba island from flycam (Photo: VNA) |
Vietnam’s 3200-km coastline and sovereign waters that triple its mainland area represent great advantages for marine economic development. The Vietnamese Party and State have issued many policies to realize the goal of making Vietnam a strong maritime country. The 12th Party Central Committee approved Resolution 36 on a Strategy for Sustainable Development of Vietnam’s Marine Economy by 2030 and vision to 2045. The 13th National Party Congress identified marine economic development as a key solution for making Vietnam a developing country with modern industry and upper-middle income status by 2030.
Protecting oceans, developing sustainable marine livelihoods
Vietnam Sea and Islands Week 2021 is focused on Vietnam’s legitimate maritime rights and interests under international law, marine environmental protection, sustainable development of marine biodiversity, active response to climate change and sea water rise, natural disaster prevention, and maritime rescue.
Cities and provinces should enhance communications on developing a maritime culture and a marine-friendly society, opposing illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, and enhancing international cooperation on sea and island issues.
Virtual seminars and conferences have been held on the management, use, and protection of marine resources towards sustainable development, and management to serve national socio-economic, defense, and security interests.
Other issues include collecting, transporting, and processing plastic and other waste in sea and island regions and building local environmental protection programs.
Sustainable marine economic development based on green growth
Vietnam’s marine economic development goals by 2030 are to make Vietnam a strong maritime country, achieve basic marine economic development criteria, develop a marine eco-culture, actively respond to climate change and sea water rise, reduce pollution, landslides, salt intrusion, and marine environmental degradation, and restore and conserve key marine ecosystems.
Vietnam will sustainably develop its marine economy based on green growth; preserving bio-diversity; balancing economic and natural eco-systems; protecting the interests of coastal localities; enhancing connectivity between sectors to boost productivity, quality, efficiency, and competitiveness; maximizing marine potentials and advantages; and creating momentum for national economic development.
Vietnam’s marine economic development has always abided by international norms, protected natural resources, recovered damaged marine ecosystems, ensured national defense and security, and improved the living conditions of people in sea and island regions. Vietnam works to ensure that its 28 coastal cities and provinces account for 65 to 70% of the nation’s GDP by 2030.
Director General of the Vietnam Administration of Sea and Islands, Ta Dinh Thi, said: “Our approach is comprehensive and overarching. We’ll focus on mechanisms, science, human resources, and infrastructure. Measures should be carried out systematically to achieve the best results.”
Vietnam intends to keep up with the global trend of protecting the oceans and developing marine livelihoods for sustainable development.