At a meeting with representatives of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment on May 23, Hanoi officials made four recommendations in the field of environmental protection and eights proposals on land management to the central government, Kinhtedothi.vn reported.

Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee Vuong Dinh Hue addresses the meeting. Photo: Kinhtedothi.vn

Addressing the meeting, Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee Vuong Dinh Hue said that effective management and exploitation of natural resources, environmental protection and climate change response are always important issues in the development process, especially for a developing city at a rapid pace like Hanoi.

Over the years, the Hanoi Party Committee has always paid attention to realizing important directives and resolutions to enhance the management of resources and environmental protection. In fact, those efforts have translated in positive changes in the city’s profile.

“Each issue must be clearly attached to concrete people and be scheduled for yielding concrete results. On that basis, Hanoi’s authorities will make effort to create a significant change to environmental resources management in the city this year," Hue pledged.

For his part, Chairman of the municipal People's Committee Nguyen Duc Chung exposed some difficulties of the capital city and hoped the ministerial level would help Hanoi solve them.

Chairman of the municipal People's Committee Nguyen Duc Chung speaks at the meeting. Photo: Kinhtedothi.vn

For the improvement of Hanoi's air quality, the Hanoi mayor suggested that ministries and agencies should set emissions technical standards for all types of vehicles. Such standards should be regularly updated to avoid obsolete criteria.

Taking the car emission standard as an example, Chung said that upgrading car emission standards is a global trend to protect the environment. European countries are even applying the Euro 6 standard, while the emission standard in Vietnam is only Euro 4.

“There are significant differences in technology between Euro 4 and Euro 5 emission standards. Therefore, the vehicles of Euro 5 and 6 standards when imported to Vietnam need to be calibrated down to Euro 4, which implies huge costs for businesses,” the mayor said.

Speaking at the meeting, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Hong Ha said that his ministry has always been monitoring closely the aspects under its competence in Hanoi.

Ha acknowledged that the issues mentioned during the meeting are under his ministry's responsibility and pledged to work with Hanoi in solving them.