Speaking at the opening of the Conference, Mr. Dang Ngoc Diep - Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment said that in recent years, the world has witnessed profound changes related to ocean space. The ocean is increasingly perceived as a new growth engine of the global economy with the strong development of traditional marine economic sectors such as sea transport, aquaculture, tourism, oil and gas, along with new fields such as offshore renewable energy, high-tech marine farming and marine biotechnology.
However, along with development opportunities are major challenges such as climate change, sea level rise, marine environmental pollution, biodiversity degradation and ocean plastic waste. In that context, the international community is strongly promoting ocean governance mechanisms to ensure sustainable exploitation of marine resources.
For Vietnam, the sea and islands have a particularly important position for socio-economic development, and are closely linked to the task of protecting sovereignty, sovereign rights, national jurisdiction, defense, security and international integration. Vietnam has a coastline of more than 3,260 km, a sea area of over 1 million km2 with a rich marine ecosystem and great potential for marine economic development. However, our country's marine space is also facing increasing pressure from climate change, environmental pollution, ecosystem degradation and conflicts in the exploitation and use of marine resources.
The Law on Marine and Island Resources and Environment passed by the National Assembly in 2015 has created an important legal basis for integrated resource management and marine environmental protection. However, after nearly 10 years of implementation, in the face of new development requirements of the country and changes in the legal system, some provisions of the Law have revealed limitations and have not kept up with reality. Meanwhile, many new marine economic sectors are developing rapidly such as offshore renewable energy, industrial marine farming, blue sea economy; emerging environmental issues such as ocean plastic waste, coastal ecosystem degradation, impacts of climate change... also raise the requirement to improve the legal framework and innovate management methods in a modern direction, based on science - technology and data.
The policy development of the draft Law is carried out on the basis of thoroughly grasping the major policies of the Party and State, especially Resolution No. 36-NQ/TW on the Strategy for Sustainable Development of Vietnam's Sea Economy; Resolution No. 57-NQ/TW on the development of science, technology and digital transformation; Resolution 59-NQ/TW dated January 24, 2025 of the Politburo on International Integration in the new situation; Resolution No. 66-NQ/TW on innovation in law-making and implementation; Resolution No. 68-NQ/TW dated May 4, 2025 of the Politburo on private economic development; Resolution 79-NQ/TW of the Politburo on state economic development dated January 6, 2026, as well as the major orientations of the 14th National Party Congress.
The Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment said that, based on summarizing the implementation of the Law, reviewing current laws and referring to international experience, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment has developed a policy dossier for the draft Law with 05 major policy groups, including:
Policy 1: Strengthen the management and use of marine space in a unified, transparent and consistent manner with the National Marine Space Planning;
Policy 2: Completing policies to protect resources, coastal environment and sensitive ecosystems;
Policy 3: Strengthen control of marine environmental pollution, especially marine plastic waste and new sources of pollution;
Policy 4: Promoting science, technology, innovation and digital transformation in marine resource and environmental management;
Policy 5: Improve mechanisms and policies to promote sustainable development of the marine economy in a green direction, harmonizing conservation and development.
Mr. Dang Ngoc Diep - Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment assessed that today's conference is an important opportunity for agencies of the National Assembly, ministries, branches, localities, scientists, experts, associations and businesses to exchange, discuss and contribute opinions on major policy groups of the draft Law.
In addition, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment also expressed his desire to receive in-depth exchanges and comments from delegates on the 5 major policy groups of the draft Law.
