Vietnam will allocate as much as VND1.45 trillion ($69 million) from the state budget for environmental protection programs in 2014, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) said at a working session with the National Assembly’s Committee for Science, Technology and Environment on Oct 14. The money is going to environmental monitoring, pollution mitigation and environmental improvement projects. The MONRE said that the country needs to spend VND2.25 trillion ($107 million) on such projects in 2015. Vietnam has increased state budget to environmental protection affairs. The spending will account for between 1% and 2% of the total state spending in the 2015-2020 period. Regarding climate change response, the country normally seeks foreign loans to carry out such projects. Over the past five years, foreign organizations and countries funded the Southeast Asian country more than $1 billion. (Thoi Bao Kinh Te Viet Nam – Vietnam Economic Times Oct 15 p2)
