• Mr. Le Minh Ngan, Deputy Minister, MONRE
• Mr. Phan Manh Hung, Deputy Chairman of Quang Binh PPC
• Distingushed representatives from ministries, 7 coastal provinces in Central Vietnam
• Experts, colleagues, participants,

Good morning , Xin Chao!

At the outset, I would like to express sincere thanks VM  Le Minh Ngan and colleagues at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and Viet Nam Administration of Seas and Islands (VASI) for the close collaboration in successful organization of the International Conference of the Government of VietNam and the government of Norway on Sustainable Ocean Economy and Climate Change Adaptation on May 12-13 two weeks ago.

I would also like to thank leaders and colleagues at Quang Binh PPC, this is the second time I am in Quang Binh, last Friday we did the ground-breaking event for building 73 flood-resilient houses for poor households affected by storms in Quang Ninh and Le Thuy district, Quang Binh province, and also I visited the Phong Nha Ke Bang national park where we will be starting a new project.

My great honor today to join VM Le Minh Ngan, and Quang Binh PPC again, in one of the most important task for sustainable ocean management - national Marine Spatial Planning.

Ladies and Gentlement,

Vietnam has great potentials for the development of ocean economy, with 28 coastal provinces that are contributing to about 60 percent of the national GDP.

The country however is faced with increasing threats and multiple risks posed by climate change, natural disasters, environmental pollution, over exploitation of natural resources, and unsustainable economic activities.

What we need to do now is how to drive the ocean economy development forward in a sustainable way, for a “blue economy”, following the Resolution 36 of the Party on sustainable development of ocean economy to 2030, vision to 2045. And of course, having a good, implementable and actionable Marine Spatial Planning is a key.

Ladies and Gentlement,

Our recent study on "Blue Economy Scenarios for Viet Nam" launched last two weeks reveals that, if a blue scenario is applied, it is estimated that marine GDP of Viet Nam will be 34% (or 23.5 billion USD) higher compared to the business as usual scenario in 2030.

The blue scenarios for Vietnam identifis specific targets and interventions for each sector of marine economy from now to 2030 as follow:

1. Fisheries and aquaculture: reduce fisheries catch to Maximum Sustainable Yield (~2.7 million tons per year) through a 2% per year catch reduction, including reduction of near- and middle-shore vessels horsepower of 5% per year; maintain aquaculture area but implement technical; and management improvement leading to a secure productivity increases of 3.5% per year.
2. Oil and gas: promote energy saving and environment protection within oil & gas production activities; increase participation in the emerging marine renewable energy production.
3. Marine renewables: Expand marine renewables towards 10,000 MW installed by 2030, including ~4,500 MW near-shore wind and 5,500 MW offshore wind.
4. Tourism: promote growth for international visitors of 8-10% per year and domestic tourists 5-6% per year to 2030; achieve 1.6 million tourist beds with 65% occupancy by 2030; embed climate change impacts, including sea level rise, in tourism planning.
5. Maritime transport: increase maritime transport to 20.6% or market share by 2030; increase volume of goods transported to 787 million tons.

I hope these recommendations on future scenarios are good input to the draft MSP and the discussion today.

Taking this opportunity, I would like to reaffirm UNDP’s committement to continuous collaboration and partnership with Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, 28 coastal provinces on sustainable ocean management, marine spatial planning, moving toward to a blue economy, leaving no one bebind.

Xin cảm ơn!