Vietnam needs stronger efforts to achieve SDGs: Workshop

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals set by the UN. (Source: UN)

Le Viet Anh, Director of the Department of Science, Education, Natural Resources and Environment under the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), said the country will be likely to achieve five of the 17 SDGs by 2030, including the ones on no poverty, zero hunger, quality education, climate actions, and global partnerships.

However, it will face multiple challenges to achieve the remainders, especially the goal on responsible consumption and production, and the one on life below water.

The possibility of achieving the SDGs by 2030 had been forecasted basing on official statistics collected up to the end of 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out. Given the pandemic's significant and adverse impacts on social and economic development, it may undermine or even reverse the achievements to date and change all forecasts, Anh noted.

As such, the official said, Vietnam should strive to turn challenges into actions and opportunities, and better the engagement of relevant stakeholders to maintain the sucesseses achieved to date and ensure the achievements of the remaining SDGs by 2030.

The launching workshop of the national report on the progress of the five-year implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. (Photo: VNA)
Michael Siegner, Resident Representative of the Hanns Seidel Foundation in Vietnam, said the country has made efforts to narrow the development gap and work towards the SDGs by 2030.

It has also made regular advancement on the Sustainable Development Index rankings, standing at the 46th position among 166 countries last year.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused more obstacles to the realisation of the SDGs, decelerate the progress, and worsen challenges to the goals, he said, adding that Vietnam needs to double efforts in the next 10 years so as to be back on track to obtain the goals by 2030.

The national report was drafted to evaluate the five-year implementation of the SDGs in Vietnam and to anticipate the possibility of achieving the goals by 2030. It provides a foundation for relevant ministries, sectors and local entities to make their action orientations, as well as important inputs for development partners to issue strategic directions for their support for Vietnam's realisation of the SDGs in the coming time.

The report compilation received inputs from relevant ministries and sectors, domestic and international organisations, and UN agencies in Vietnam. The UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the Hanns Seidel Foundation from Germany provided technical support for this process./.

VNA