HA NOI, 14 January 2015 — Tam Ky and Quy Nhon will be the first cities included in the Viet Nam City Development Strategies Project (CDS), officials announced on Tuesday. The CDS project aims to create city-development strategies that involve all stakeholders, using the cities themselves as the driving force behind development. "Cities contributed up to 75 per cent of the country's GDP and created millions of jobs, serving as economic hubs to boost development," said Do Viet Chien, director of the Ministry of Construction's Urban Development Agency.

Quang Ngai Province, Vietnam, 4 December 2014- Ly Son Island's leaders hope to transform it into an ecotourism centre, Tran Ngoc Nguyen, Chairman of the island's People's Committee, said at a seminar yesterday.

The event, titled Eco-planning toward sustainable development for Ly Son island, included information sessions with ecotourism experts from South Korea, a country that has integrated ecotourism into its tourism industry and cultural heritage efforts.

Participants also toured the island to evaluate its infrastructure and potential.

HA NOI, 21 November 2014— The Ministry of Construction and a UN agency have taken the first steps to establishing a City Prosperity Index for Viet Nam.This was announced at a workshop held yesterday in Ha Noi, which was told that more than 50 per cent of the world's population lives in cities. Viet Nam, as a developing nation, needed a City Prosperity Index so policymakers could effectively plan and manage its growing cities, said Nguyen Quang, the programme manager of UN-Habitat in Viet Nam.

Ho Chi Minh City, 23 October 2014 - In order to provide technical support to improve knowledge and share experience in urban planning among Ho Chi Minh City and other provinces and cities in the Southern Key Economic Zone (SKEZ), United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN-Habitat) together with World Bank and Vietnam National University - Ho Chi Minh City organised a three-day Regional Planning and Linkages for Southern Key Economic Zone workshop in HCM City which brought together the Central Economic Commission, relevant ministries and departments, city and provi

Cities Programme supports high-level workshop on environment change and urbanization in Asia Pacific

The high-level event – ‘Environment Change and Urbanization in the South East Asia region’  - recently held in Viet Nam, attracted 50 leading organisations from across the region.These included Vietnamese, Thai and Indonesian government ministries and departments, the Rockefeller Foundation, UN-Habitat and ISET International, private consultancies, as well as a number of universities and research institutes from across the Asia Pacific region.

On 6 September 2011, the Consultative Leadership Workshop for the Quang Nam Provincial Development Strategy was held in Tam Ky City, Quang Nam province by the Provincial Propaganda Department, Planning & Investment Department of Quang Nam Province, UN-HABITAT, Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics and Public Administration (HCMA) along with Portland State University from America. The workshop lasted for 3 days with participation of representatives from provincial department, committee, districts and provincial cities.

In Vietnam, the message contained in World Habitat Day in relation to the country’s specific context was distributed to the mass media such as newspaper, magazine and interview in television to raise the public awareness of 2011 theme of Cities and Climate Change on October 3, 2011.

From 10th to 12th October 2011, UN-HABITAT Viet Nam in collaboration with Academy of Managers for Construction and Cities (AMC) have successfully organized the Training of Trainer (ToT) Workshop on Housing Policy Development in Hanoi. The workshop attracted 35 participants from different departments and institutions under Ministry of Construction (MOC) and different universities and research institutes like University of Architecture, University of Construction, Vietnam Institute of Architecture, Urban and Rural Planning (VIAP) and the Academy (AMC).

(Hanoi) On November 7, 2011, UN-HABITAT Vietnam and the Association of Cities in Viet Nam (ACVN) organized a national workshop of project "Urban Observatory System in Vietnam" at Ho Chi Minh museum to share and discuss project preliminary results. This project aims to support Vietnam cities/ towns to set up a data system for monitoring and evaluating of MDG implementation process for sustainable development, equality, environment friendliness, competitiveness and poverty reduction.

On behalf of the Government of Viet Nam, Minister of Planning and Investment Bui Quang Vinh and representatives of the 16 UN agencies in Viet Nam and IOM on March 27 signed a new One Plan, covering the period 2012 to 2016. The new One Plan is the framework for cooperation programmes of UN agencies and IOM in Viet Nam over the next five years. It outlines a joint and strategic programme of work which will support Viet Nam in addressing its development priorities. The total budget for the One Plan is estimated at US$ 480 million.