A meeting on the Post-2015 Support Program to Respond to Climate Change in Vietnam (SP-RCC), co-chaired by Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) Tran Hong Ha and Deputy Resident Representative of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Suzuki Tadashi, was held in Hanoi on November 6. Speaking at the meeting, Deputy Minister Ha said SP-RCC had shown a number of first successes, especially increasing the public’s awareness of climate change. In order to boost the achieved results and overcome the existing challenges, MONRE pledged to coordinate with relevant agencies to establish a group of experts that brings together the donors and project stakeholders to work especially on finance mechanisms, Ha added. As recommended by the Coordination Board, Post-2015 SP-RCC will be implemented in four phases, scheduled to start in November 2014. The first phase includes ensuring suitable financing options and completing the detailed outlines for the program. The second phase will focus on the policy framework and prioritizing climate change, which will be followed by the completion of the Program Document and its submission to the authorities. In the fourth phase, the document will officially be adopted. The participants discussed what the program should look like from 2015 onwards, what the roles of relevant ministries and donors should be, and what the policy framework in 2016 would entail. They also planned the working group’s next meeting. (Vietnamplus.vn Nov 6)
