Ben Tree is a resource rich province in the Mekong Delta – the food chamber of Vietnam. For more than 18 years, Denmark has been supporting activities in the province, within fisheries, environment, water and sanitation and recently climate change.
The Danish Ambassador John Nielsen visited a sea food company, who more than 15 years ago received Danida funding for marketing their products in the European market. Today they are on a purely commercial basis buying technology and know-how from Danish companies.
The Ambassador met with Chairman of the People’s Committee of Ben Tre, Mr. Nguyen Van Hieu. the Ambassador discussed the possibilities of following up on the positive outcomes of the development cooperation through a strengthening of the commercial relations between companies in Ben Tre and Danish companies.
Notwithstanding, all the positive achievements the chairman of the PP and the Ambassador John Nielsen were particularly worried about the effects of climate change and the possible rising of the sea level. If measures are not taken soon, there are strong indications that saline water will flood the low-lying province of Ben Tre and destroy crops and production in the future. Against that backdrop, Ben Tre has been selected as one of the pilot provinces of the National Climate Change Programme, which is supported with 40 mio. USD by the Danish government.
Dams are being built and other preventive measures are underway. However, a strong and dedicated effort will be required from the Central Government, the Peoples Committee of Ben Tre and international expertise to ensure the sustainable future of Ben Tre.
