Vietnam and Japan have great potential in developing biomass power.

On the morning of July 27, at the National Assembly House, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue received Mr. Maeda Tadashi, Special Advisor to the Japanese Government Cabinet and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC).

Chủ tịch Quốc hội Vương Đình Huệ tiếp ông Maeda Tadashi, Chủ tịch Hội đồng Quản trị Ngân hàng JBIC. (Nguồn: TTXVN)

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue received Mr. Maeda Tadashi, Chairman of the Board of Directors of JBIC Bank. (Source: VNA)

Welcoming Mr. Meadea Tadashi's working visit to Vietnam since his visit in July 2022, the National Assembly Chairman was pleased to know that Mr. Meadea Tadashi and the delegation had effective meetings and exchanges with leaders of the Central Economic Commission, leaders of the Government, and a number of ministries and branches of Vietnam.

The National Assembly Chairman emphasized that this is an important visit within the framework of the two countries celebrating the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations (1973-2023); at the same time, it is also an opportunity for the two sides to promote and further deepen the extensive strategic partnership for peace and prosperity in Asia in particular, as well as promote cooperation between ASEAN and Japan in general.

Thanking Mr. Meadea Tadashi for sharing on important current issues, especially energy transition, the National Assembly Chairman emphasized the basic points related to this field.

According to the National Assembly Chairman, energy transition is an inevitable and objective process, ensuring sustainable development goals and a global nature that no country can stand outside. Based on that perspective, at the COP26 Conference, Vietnam made a strong commitment to the international community to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

Emphasizing that the goal of energy transition in any country must ensure energy security as a top priority, the National Assembly Chairman said that many international forums mainly mention energy transition but rarely mention energy security and energy balance, while this is a macro balance that can be ranked first.

Energy transition is a fair transition process, ensuring cost-benefit harmony, not only for the State but also for consumers, investors and businesses. Energy transition must ensure feasibility and suitability to the reality of each country. It is not only concerned with power source projects but also with projects related to power transmission.

According to the National Assembly Chairman, energy transition is a global issue, so poorer, slower-developing countries like Vietnam need support from the international community on three important issues: building institutional, legal and policy systems; support in technology and engineering; and financial support. Without this support, countries like Vietnam will have great difficulty in energy transition.

Vietnam highly appreciates the “Asian Zero Emission Community” (AZEC) initiative of Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio. The National Assembly Chairman said that this initiative has similarities with Vietnam and that Vietnam is also making efforts to implement specific cooperation with Japan.

Agreeing with the Chairman of the Board of Directors of JBIC that it is necessary to establish a working group, the Chairman of the National Assembly shared that the Vietnamese National Assembly is ready to send National Assembly deputies of the Committees to participate in the group; at the same time, he noted that the two sides need to clarify the content of the initiative, the operating mechanism, and the Vietnam-Japan partnership in implementing this mechanism...

Currently, the world is undergoing rapid developments and changes, so each country is seeking to restructure its supply chain to adapt to fluctuations in trade and investment. The National Assembly Chairman suggested that the two countries should have substantive cooperation to maintain and develop strategic supply chains, of which the energy supply chain is very important.

The two countries have great potential in developing biomass power; cooperating in converting power plants from coal to biomass fuel according to a certain roadmap; cooperating in the supply chain of projects related to gas energy; cooperating in developing wind power and solar power suitable for climate change in Vietnam and Asia.

The National Assembly Chairman was pleased to know that Mr. Meadea Tadashi and the delegation had effective meetings and exchanges with leaders of the Central Economic Commission, leaders of the Government, and a number of ministries and sectors of Vietnam. (Source: VNA)

Mr. Maeda Tadashi, Special Advisor to the Japanese Government Cabinet and Chairman of the Board of Directors of JBIC Bank, expressed his pleasure to meet the Chairman of the National Assembly again and said that after his visit to Vietnam in 2022, he had taken on the task of being an Advisor to implement the Japanese Prime Minister's initiatives related to promoting carbon neutrality. This visit to Vietnam, in addition to the JBIC leadership, also included representatives of Japanese regulatory agencies.

At the G20 meetings in 2022, Japan proposed the Zero Emission Community (AZEC) initiative. The G7 is also focusing on implementing the Just Energy Transition (JETP) initiative.

Sharing some information about these two initiatives as well as specific implementation activities of Japan, Chairman Maeda Tadashi said that to implement JETP, JBIC Bank committed to support 300 million USD through Vietcombank to implement projects related to renewable energy. In JETP, Japan also committed to lending at zero interest rate or very low interest rate with better lending conditions.

For AZEC, this mechanism is being implemented very specifically by Japan. Japan allocates a large amount of funding for the New Energy Development Research Fund. Vietnamese enterprises can work with Japanese enterprises to research and develop new energy sources from this fund.

During this working visit to Vietnam, the Japanese side proposed and hoped that the Vietnamese side would soon establish a joint working group to implement AZEC to have specific and effective plans and actions.

The JBIC Chairman also said that Japan, the United States, and Australia will also coordinate and support Vietnam in overcoming the consequences of climate change. Japan has established a framework to support Vietnam on this issue.

Sharing the analysis and proposals of National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue, JBIC Chairman Maeda Tadashi said that when establishing a joint working group, these proposals will be specified.

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