At the meeting, the UN-Habitat Delegation briefly presented the project components being implemented in Vietnam from December 2019 to October 2020 namely the memorandum of understanding between the UN-Habitat and the Vietnamese Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Asia Urban Cooperation Program, the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (GCoM) and UN-Habitat’s cooperation.

When signing commitments to join the GCoM in February 2019, the Can Tho authorities committed to rolling out policies and measures to reduce and limit greenhouse gas emissions, preparing for the impacts of climate change, strengthening the access to sustainable energy and monitoring the realization of these objectives.

Mr. Nguyen Quang, Director of UN-Habitat in Viet Nam, said that UN-Habitat aims to advance sustainable urbanization as a driver of development and peace, to improve living conditions for all. As for GCoM, it is the largest global coalition of 9000 cities and more than 120 countries across 6 continents, representing nearly 10% of the global population with the goal to actively combatting climate change and transitioning to a low-carbon and climate resilient economy in the future. With Can Tho being one of the three pilot cities in Vietnam, UN-Habitat wishes to cooperate with Can Tho in developing and implementing the project; seting up a local team to work closely with UN-habitat in providing, processing data, developing an Action Plan on Climate Change Adaptation for the city.

Speaking at the meeting, Mr. Dao Anh Dung, Permanent Vice Chairman of Can Tho city People's Committee, said that the city will carry out the commitments signed with UN-habitat. In time ahead, the city will build urban authorities and an action plan against climate when joining GCoM. Mr. Dung agreed with the reporting format and plan to join GCoM with other cities. He also called on UN-Habitat to help the city with drafting the action plan against climate change, the urban programme and relevant reports.

For a successful and effective program, the municipal People's Committee assigns the city’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment to be the key agency to work with UN-Habitat and Can Tho Climate Change Office, Can Tho 100RC Office will be the supporting ones.