Welcome Remarks Dr Nguyen Thai Lai Vice Minister of Natural Resources and Environment at INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON "SUSTAINABLE MANUFACTURING AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT" Daewoo Hotel, Hanoi, 6th, October 2012 Dear international scholars, policy makers and all conference participants, Distinguished guest, Ladies and Gentlemen, First of all, on behalf of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, I would like to thank VNU University of Economics and Business, and JSPS Asian CORE Program, Nagoya University who have invited me to attend and make a welcome remarks at the International Conference "Sustainable Manufacturing and Environmental Management", which is held solemnly with the participation of hundreds of economic, environmental scholars, natural resource manager and policy makers from Japan, Korea, China, Vietnam and other multilateral organizations to discuss a very interested issue in this time As you may know, the world today is facing big challenges, which are: global warming; land degradation and desertification; freshwater scarcity; exhausted exploitation in non-renewable resources; decline in habitat quality; forest destroyed; extinction of rare species , etc., and they have directly threatened to the non-traditional security (food security, energy security …etc.) of life on earth 20 years has passed since the first United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Earth Summit), the Rio +20 Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in June 2012 for the twenty-first century have been re-conceived At the conference, the discussion has focused on two main topics: improving the institutional framework for sustainable development, and development of a green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty alleviation The world leaders have discussed, identified new targets and indicators for sustainable development, innovative financing methods and measures in order to quickly eliminate unsustainable production and consumption patterns In Vietnam, in recent decades, the process of industrialization and modernization happening simultaneously with the deep integration process into the world economy, this has brought great economic achievements (high GDP growth rate in a long time, strong decline in the poverty rate, continuous improvement of people's lives, Vietnam becoming a middle-income country, etc.) However Vietnam is facing difficulties and challenges: not high growth quality; low competitiveness; high consumption of resources, energy and emissions per unit of GDP; overexploitation of natural resources, inefficient and unsustainable use resulting in degradation and depletion; rapid degradation of environmental quality, seriously- polluted places In that situation, the Social- Economic Development Strategy 2011-2020 has defined the viewpoint "to develop sustainable economics and macro-economic stability, as well as to ensure the economic security; promoting economic restructuring, growth model transformation, put the quality, productivity, efficiency, competitiveness in top priority; focusing on in-depth development, development of the knowledge-based economy Economic growth must be combined in harmony with cultural development, social progress and justice execution, continuous improvement in the quality of people’s life Socio-economic development must always attach importance to protection and improvement of the environment and active response to climate change" On these days, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has been continuously improving policies and regulations on natural resource management and environmental protection The new highlights in the new law to be drafted and promulgated is the addition in the Chapter, Article,… on financial regulations (taxes, fees, exploitation rights, exploitation rights bidding, etc ) The institutionalization of economic tools in the management of natural resources is also included in the objective of encouraging the exploitation and use of natural resources in a more efficient, economical and sustainable manner Simultaneously with the process of finalizing the policy mentioned above, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment is currently responsible for the implementation of the Science and Technology Program at the State level serving for National Target Program to Respond to Climate Change Executing the Program with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, there are top research institutes such as Vietnam Institute of Science and Technology, Vietnamese Academy of Social Sciences and Vietnam National University, Hanoi Among the vital objectives of the Science and Technology Program at the State level is to study and propose modern technology, advanced manufacturing model in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, towards a low-carbon economy – a green economy, sustainable production and consumption modes In essence, the concept of "sustainable manufacturing" encompasses the element of environmental management, which means that the manufacturing model and technology already complied with all the regulations on environmental protection Therefore, the basic issue of Today’s conference is to focus on studying and discussing in order to find out a sustainable manufacturing model - a model that could represent: (1) how to utilize the resources efficiently; (2) environmentalfriendly technology; (3) no- emissions production life cycle; (4) how to encourage sustainable manufacturing activities… etc As all of you may know, Japan and South Korea are said to be a pioneer in the research and application of cleaner manufacturing model, green economic development model In Today’s Conference, the participation of Japanese, South Korean scholars, along with the presence of wellknown scholars from China and Vietnam and many multilateral organizations, have inspired the belief in me that the outcome of today's Conference will not only be encapsulated in the academic exchange, experience sharing, but we can discuss to discover the principles, the sustainable manufacturing and environmental models – the ones that could solve all the difficulties and challenges of the present and the future I wish all of you health, wish our conference a great success! Dr Nguyen Thai Lai Vice Minister of Natural Resources and Environment ... implementation of the Science and Technology Program at the State level serving for National Target Program to Respond to Climate Change Executing the Program with the Ministry of Natural Resources... Article,… on financial regulations (taxes, fees, exploitation rights, exploitation rights bidding, etc ) The institutionalization of economic tools in the management of natural resources is also... from China and Vietnam and many multilateral organizations, have inspired the belief in me that the outcome of today's Conference will not only be encapsulated in the academic exchange, experience