Vietnam

In the 1980s, more than half of Vietnam's population lived below the poverty line. Now, less than 15 per cent is as poor, and the country is experiencing rapid growth. The fact that Vietnam is one of very few countries with continuing economic growth, despite the financial crisis, is in many ways due to the government's ability to respond to the crisis.

Vietnam is an authoritarian one-party state ruled by the Vietnamese Communist Party (CVP). All attempts to establish organized political opposition are banned under the constitution. In certain areas the human rights situation in Vietnam has improved over the past 10-15 years, both as a result of the general opening up of the country and the economic reform process. But arrests of human rights activists and dissidents have continued throughout 2010. Issues related to economic and social rights can be spoken about, but when it comes to political and civil rights, the picture is a challenging one. Vietnam is struggling with corruption.

In August 2009 the country ratified the United Nations Convention against Corruption and the government maintains that the fight against corruption is a priority.

Environmental and climate issues, forests, natural resource management, business cooperation and support to One UN will remain priorities in the Norwegian-Vietnamese cooperation.

According to the Norwegian Government's Vietnam Strategy, Norwegian bilateral support to Vietnam will be reduced so that continued collaboration will increasingly be based on active support via the UN system and professional, institutional cooperation.

Climate and the environment

Natural disasters may cost almost NOK 1 300 billion annually by the end of this century. A report from the World Bank concludes that prevention would be far cheaper. Vietnam is among the countries which have been hard hit by natural disasters, and it is a world leader when it comes to preventing the consequences. Climate change and population growth are placing ever greater pressure on the environment making the country even more vulnerable in the future.

Cooperation on environmental and climate issues has become an increasingly central element in the Norwegian-Vietnamese cooperation. Vietnam's environmental problems are linked to sustained strong economic growth, lack of integration of environmental concerns, low resource efficiency, uneven distribution of resources, and population pressure. Vietnamese authorities have drawn up a national programme to respond to climate change. Norway cooperates bilaterally and multilaterally with Vietnam to contribute to the implementation of international environmental obligations. Reduction of pollution and sustainable use of natural resources are in focus.

Save the Children's child clubs for disaster prevention are popular. Here children are taught how they can reduce the risks associated with flooding. The children produce risk maps of vulnerable areas with plotted escape routes, and spread this information in their communities. They identify their own needs and plan actions that could contribute to an effective response. They also provide input to the local committees working on flood and storm control. The children's activities contribute to both their families and communities being better prepared for floods, and so reducing the number of deaths.

Dialogue on human rights

The Norway-Vietnam human rights dialogue was formalised in 2003, and consists of political discussions on human rights and bilateral issues, and parallel specialist seminars. The subjects of the specialist seminars vary from year to year; in recent years the focus has been on constitutional state development, freedom of information legislation and gender equality.

The human rights dialogue also places emphasis on project collaboration between Norwegian and Vietnamese partners. The largest Norwegian project partner is the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights' Vietnam programme, which among other things, has assisted in the creation of a master's degree programme in international human rights and the assessment of the draft Freedom of Information bill. Other project work includes exchange of experience on tripartite cooperation. The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) and the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (NHO) have projects in Vietnam to disseminate knowledge about this form of cooperation.

The overall goal of Norway's dialogues with individual countries is to strengthen each country's implementation of the international human rights framework. Political contacts are a key element in the dialogues, as well as networking between public administration, judiciary, academics and NGOs in the two countries. Mutual trust between the parties is the essential premise for dialogue.

Forestry

It takes time to develop projects and mechanisms for monitoring deforestation. Vietnam has recently launched its strategy to combat deforestation, and the forestry initiative is central to Norway's efforts in the country. There is an agreement on cooperation between Vietnam and Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research (BCCR).

The Government of Norway's International Climate and Forest Initiative was launched by Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg during the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali in December 2007.

One of the important goals for this initiative is to contribute to include REDD+ (United Nations Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) in a new global climate change agreement.

Another goal is to contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from the forest sector in developing countries as soon as possible, even before a new climate change agreement has been signed.

A third goal for the climate and forest initiative is to conserve natural forest because of the forest’s ability to store carbon, and in order to protect biological diversity, forest ecosystem services and the basis of existence for people living in and of the forests.

A primary target for the initiative, in addition to the climate change targets, is to contribute to poverty reduction and sustainable development in developing countries.