The MRLG Viet Nam’s 4th Meeting of National Advisory Committee convened

Ha Noi - September 30, 2021, the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations (VUSTA) held a virtual meeting of the National Advisory Committee of the project "Mekong Region Land Governance in Vietnam phase 2"(MRLG Project)” under the chairing of H.E Dr. Sc. Phan Xuan Dung, the VUSTA President.

VUSTA President Phan Xuan Dung gives the remarks at the meeting

Dr. Sc. Phan Xuan Dung stressed in his speech that VUSTA is a partner of the MRLG project with the role of cooperation and support for project activities implemented in Vietnam towards good governance in land administration. VUSTA is nominated to chair the National Advisory Committee (NAC) for the project MRLG in Vietnam.

At the previous 3 meetings in 2019, the NAC commented on the proposals of two project components in Vietnam: recognition of customary tenure rights and Responsible Investment in Agriculture.

According to the report, since 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the project's activities are being hindered and behind schedule. To date, these components have also achieved outcomes and action plan for the final year of the project was developed. Committee members are requested to provide thoughtful input on policy goals, strategies of the project in Vietnam that best suit the context, policy orientation, as well as development goals of Vietnam. We also hope that our comments and recommendations will help the coalitions of these components to orient and build appropriate goals and strategies for the future policy-making process; and compiled recommendations to be sent to the Project Steering Committee to provide them backgrounds and context for policy interventions in Vietnam in order to make appropriate decisions to support Vietnam in the process of building a better land governance.

At the meeting, the delegates were updated on Vietnam's situation: the impact of the pandemic and the general roadmap for developing land and forestry policies; 3rd year plan and strategy of custom tenure workflow implementation; policy development component: the manual on community forest management; responsible agricultural investment workflow; assessment on the 2013 land law enforcement and land law revision roadmap; overviewing key points of the workshop on assessment of the 3rd year component and plan - strategy responsible agricultural investment workflow.

The meeting attracted representatives from civil society organizations, research and development agencies, international organizations working in the fields of environment, society, forest, land and economy. Delegates mainly discussed with experts on reviewing of policies, laws, decrees, and regulations; develop a report on policy recommendations on extreme land accumulation and concentration; and recovery, compensation and relocation assistance; developing a forestry policy framework and issuing adequate guidelines on community forest management; support provinces on development of local level guidelines.

Concluding remarks at the meeting, VUSTA President Phan Xuan Dung said that we have been updated on the project results, recommendations on appropriate strategies and policy goals for the final year of MRLG project has been made. These recommendations help improve land governance in Vietnam to ensure the land rights of smallholder farmers, disadvantaged groups such as women and ethnic minorities after the MRLG project phased 2 ends in September 2022.

President Phan Xuan Dung also suggested that MRLG would send our comments and recommendations to the Project Steering Committee to provide support of project coalitions in Vietnam towards transparent and effective land governance to ensure the goal of the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress "no one is left behind", especially the marginalized groups.