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Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan at the opening ceremony of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Photo: VGP
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The event drew the participation of over 100,000 delegates, including 63 President and Prime Ministers from 193 UN members. A Vietnamese delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan attended the event.
During the three day conference, delegates are expected to review 20 years of sustainable development and discussed on the past and future challenges against sustainable development.
It is also a good chance for the UN members to reach a new political commitment to sustainable development following debates on two major topics of green economy in the context of sustainable development-poverty reduction and legal framework for sustainable development.
Addressing the opening ceremony, UN Secretary General Bank Ki-moon said sustainable development is the inevitable trend and the strategic choice for all countries.
He stressed that recent international conferences on environment and sustainable development in 1972, 1992, 2002 demonstrated joint determination to achieve prosperous and sustainable future on the globe.
"Twenty years ago, the Earth Summit put sustainable development on the global agenda. Yet let me be frank: our efforts have not lived up to the measure of the challenge," he told delegates.
"For too long, we have behaved as though we could indefinitely burn and consume our way to prosperity. Today, we recognize that we can no longer do so.
"We recognize that the old model for economic development and social advancement is broken. Rio+20 has given us a unique chance to set it right," he said./.
By Kim Anh