EU and MoIT launch sustainable energy programme

February 28, 2018 | 16:56
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The European Commission and the Ministry of Industry and Trade launched EU-Vietnam Energy Facility on February 27. This is a technical assistance facility in support of the implementation of the European Union’s (EU) Energy Sector Policy Support Programme worth of €108 million ($133.1 million). 

This programme aims to enhance access to sustainable energy in Vietnam’s rural areas and contribute to a more sustainable energy sector by promoting efficient, clean, and renewable energy available to all citizens.

EU-Vietnam Energy Facility, co-financed by the EU and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Co-operation and Development-BMZ in the framework of Phase II of the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Project, will be operated by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in close co-operation with the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

eu and moit launch sustainable energy programme
The EU-Vietnam Energy Facility is aimed to support sustainable energy development in Vietnam

At the launch, the European Commission’s Director-General of International Co-operation and Development, Stefano Manservisi, said, “Our ambitious €108-million ($133.1-million) programme will not only support the government of Vietnam to achieve its objectives of the 2013-2020 programme on supplying electricity to rural, mountainous, and island areas to provide reliable and sustainable electricity access to up to 1.2 million households, but it will also enhance the governance of the energy sector to facilitate the shift to a more sustainable energy development path.”

eu and moit launch sustainable energy programme
Stefano Manservisi addresses the launch

“Vietnam, one of the most exposed countries in the world to climate change, is facing major energy challenges to maintain the path of its socioeconomic development. While the EU’s response cannot address all these challenges, it can work with other development partners to influence policies and choices that could make the sector cleaner and more sustainable."

Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh also said that in the past years, the Vietnamese energy sector has been developing rapidly and sustainably. This development is a key factor to maintaining the high socioeconomic growth of the country.

It reaffirms the European Union’s leading role in supporting the fight against climate change and in the promotion of renewable energy.

“The Vietnamese government commits to socioeconomic development, ensuring access to power for the whole country, including remote areas where 2 per cent of the population still do not have access to electricity,” Tuan Anh said. “In this context, the government of Vietnam is very grateful to the EU for its support in sustainable energy development through its Multi-Annual Indicative Programme for Vietnam in 2014-2020 and particularly the Financing Agreement for the Energy Sector Policy Support Programme to Enhance Access to Sustainable Energy in Rural Areas of Vietnam signed on December 1, 2017.”

The EU’s grant allocation of €346 million ($426.54 million) supporting the Vietnamese energy sector in 2014-2020 is the largest grant contribution provided by the EU so far to a single country in support of sustainable energy development.

It reaffirms the European Union’s leading role in supporting the fight against climate change and in the promotion of renewable energy.

By Thanh Tung

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