The event saw the attendance of Politburo member, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc; Secretary of the Party Central Committee (PCC), Chairman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee Tran Thanh Man; PCC member, Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung; PCC member, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Hong Ha; PCC member, Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chung; PCC alternate member, first Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union Central Committee Le Quoc Phong, among others.
Addressing the event, PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc expressed his delight and appreciated initiatives and practical actions of some localities, enterprises and communities in dealing with plastic waste pollution.
He stressed that as many as 13 million tons of plastic trash were discharged into oceans each year, and which have left negative impacts on the living environment, people’s health and sustainable development of every nation.
Vietnam has discharged a large number of plastic bags every day which seriously threaten land, water, air and ocean environment, he said, noting that more drastic measures must be taken synchronously in an effort to control and reduce plastic waste pollution and avoid serious consequences.
According to him, the Government has issued and perfected the system of mechanisms, policies and measures to manage and control environmental pollution caused by plastic waste, especially single use plastic products and plastic bags that are hard to decompose. He also called on agencies, authorities, localities and the entire society to join hand in the fight against plastic waste.
The PM requested heads of provinces and centrally-run cities and organizations to pay special attention to launching plastic waste prevention campaigns, meanwhile, state agencies and units are tasked to take concrete measures to combat plastic waste.
He urged press agencies to positively strengthen the communication to raise public awareness of the issue while honoring typical program and models that contribute to plastic waste reduction.
Also, PM Phuc underlined the need to increase investment as well as promote the application of advanced technologies for plastic waste recycling, and develop environmentally-friendly products.
Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chung speaks at the launching ceremony.
In response to the PM’s call, representing provinces and cities throughout the country joining in the plastic waste prevention campaign, Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chung said that to effectively work out the PM’s direction, Hanoi will focus on taking five key solutions, including signing a commitment to fight against plastic waste in industrial production, striving to fulfill the target that all shopping malls and supermarkets will not use plastic bags by December 31, 2020.
Accordingly, the city will enhance the communication to raise people’s awareness about negative impacts of plastic waste on living environment, people’s health and ecosystem; elaborate and complete preferential policies to increase the recycle of plastic wastes and use more eco-friendly products.
In the framework of the event, PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Chairman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee Tran Thanh Man, Deputy PM Trinh Dinh Dung, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Hong Ha, Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chung and many officials joined a walk to call the public’s involvement in the fight against plastic trash, and visited the “Challenges for Change” photo exhibition.
Some images at the launching ceremony:
