The Vietnam Circular Economy Network has made important contributions to perfecting institutions and policies through the organization of dialogues and providing feedback on the building of policies.

Its activities include a forum to offer feedback on the draft national action plan on the circular economy, the draft regulation on recycling fees, the draft decree on a pilot mechanism on circular economic development, and the draft plan on the assessment of policy impacts.

One of its most important activities is preparations for negotiations over a global agreement on plastic pollution.

In August, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE) in coordination with relevant ministries, business partners, associations, non-government organizations, and international organizations that are members of the Vietnam National Plastic Action Partnership (NPAP), discussed the process of securing global agreement on ending plastic pollution.

The draft agreement will be submitted to the third session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-3), which is being held in Kenya from November 13-19.

The global agreement is both a challenge and an opportunity for Vietnam to accelerate the improvement of institutions and policies relating to the environment, especially waste management, including plastic waste; raise awareness on changing daily behavior in using disposable plastics, and reusing and collecting and classifying waste at the source by households; and use innovations and solutions in reducing plastic waste, promoting a plastic circular economy and implementing extended producer responsibility, according to Director of the International Cooperation Department at MoNRE, Le Ngoc Tuan.

Apart from organizing policy dialogues, the Network’s other activities include sharing financial information, developing a business incubation network, holding business forums on the circular economy, and building a database on the circular economy.