On Dec. 25, 2019, NHRI President CHEN Shengshui met with a 11-person Vietnamese delegation led by Mr. Hoang Van Thang, Chairman of Vietnam National Committee on Large Dams (VNCOLD). The delegation was comprised of members from VNCOLD, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Quang Ngai Province and Vietnam Academy for Water Resources. The two sides exchanged views on reservoir dam construction and safety management both in China and Vietnam as well as future cooperation. The meeting was hosted by JING Maotao, Deputy Director-General of the Dam Safety Management Center (DSMC) of Chinese Ministry of Water Resources.

CHEN pointed out that floods, droughts and the sustainable use of water resources would continue to be the common challenges faced by China and Vietnam for a long time to come. Currently, both Chinese and Vietnamese governments actively support bilateral and multilateral cooperation on water resources. The Ministerial Meeting of Lancang-Mekong Water Resources Cooperation, held in Beijing on Dec. 17, 2019, issued a ministerial joint statement on water resources cooperation. The statement proposes to launch pilot cooperation projects in fields like dam safety management in order to improve people's livelihood. NHRI is now running two projects with the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Fund, i.e., dam safety standards and health inspections in the six Lancang-Mekong countries. China and Vietnam share many similarities in reservoir dam management system and related challenges. Therefore, it is hoped that, under the Langcang-Mekong Water Resources Cooperation Framework, the two sides could further strengthen bilateral cooperation on safety technology, management system, policies and regulations of reservoir dam on the one hand, and initiate cooperation on water resources management, estuary and coast protection and governance, water environment protection and treatment of rivers and lakes, and agricultural water management on the other. Cooperation in water-related fields will serve to improve the livelihood of Chinese and Vietnamese people, and even contribute to regional development and prosperity.

Mr. Hoang Van Thang fully agreed to CHEN's proposal and admired China's achievements in reservoir dam construction and safety management. He believed that the visit was exciting and rewarding, and expected to visit China again in 2020. He said he would promote specific cooperation projects after returning to Vietnam.

The two sides also conducted in-depth exchanges on implementation of the cooperation consensus (in fields of people-benefiting water projects) reached at the Ministerial Meeting and signed a MoU. After the meeting, the Vietnamese delegation visited NHRI Water Experiment Center, Jinniuhu Reservoir Dam and Jiangsu Provincial Flood Control and Emergency Training Center.

Relevant NHRI and DSMC staff attended the above-mentioned activities.