German Partners Help Mekong Delta Tackle Climate Change

Representatives from the Mekong Delta German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) and Siemens gathered at a meeting on August 18 to discuss a project to enhance the region’s capacity to better cope with climate change. Addressing the working session, Nguyen Phong Quang, deputy head of the Steering Committee for the Southwest Region emphasized that the Mekong Delta region has been detrimentally affected by climate change and rising sea levels with regular floods, storms and whirlwinds plaguing the region. Quang said that the steering committee discussed the proposed project of GIZ and Siemens, adding that Mekong Delta provinces are badly in need of capital resources to implement this or any project on climate change. Severin Peters, a GIZ expert said his agency and Siemens are two leading German companies with considerable experience in managing climate change projects. They will initially, launch pilot projects in Can Tho, Ca Mau and Kien Giang provinces. Capital resources will be mobilized from GIZ’s sponsors such as the World Bank (WB), the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The project is expected to commence sometime in late 2014 and be completed in mid-2015. (Vov.vn Aug 19)