Event: The 4th Asian Universities Forum」Welcome Remarks
Date: 09:30, May 22 (Fri), 2015
Venue: Yen Tu Meeting Room, Novotel Halong Hotel
President Phung Xuan Nha and esteemed colleagues,
It gives me great pleasure to be here with all of you for the fourth Asian
Universities Forum. Personally, it is my first time attending this forum since I
have been elected as President. Therefore, this forum has great meaning to
me. First of all, I would like to thank you for being here to participate in
this meaningful event. In particular, I would like to take this opportunity to
express my heartfelt gratitude to President Phung Xuan Nha for graciously
co-hosting this event and for all the efforts put in by you and your staff
from Vietnam National University, Hanoi. I would also like to express thanks
to Dang Huy Hau, Vice Chairman of People’s Committee of Quang Ninh
Province for allowing us to hold this forum at the beautiful city of Ha Long
Bay in Quang Ninh Province. The 4th Asian Universities Forum could not
have taken place without the considerable efforts and sincere cooperation
from Vietnam National University, Hanoi and Quang Ninh Province. Thanks
to your commitment, I am convinced that, this year’s forum will be
successful in building on the success of our previous forum.
Today we begin our session with the theme of “Green Growth for
Sustainable and Equitable Development”. The issue on “Green Growth” is
considered as a significant issue not only in Asia but also in the world. The
9th edition of Global Risks Report in 2014, which is an annual study
published by the World Economic Forum ahead of the Forum’s Annual
Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, assesses that climate change, unemployment,
extreme weather, and income gap are the four most severe global risks that
humankind will be possibly facing in the next ten years. As global experts
indicated two environmental problems and two economic problems as the
most severe global risks in the report, both damage from climate change
and unemployment caused by the world economic downturn since 2008 are
the realities that we are now facing. These conditions lead to an emergence
of the vision of Green Growth, and we all recognize that environmental
problems and economic problems must be dealt with each other and not
considered as an individual issue.
What is “Green Growth”? Professor Paul Ekins, an economist from the
Great Britain defined it as “environmentally sustainable economic growth”,
which means a growth pattern that shows the national income constantly
accelerating while sustaining the nature and the humankind healthy. The
Green Growth presents the possibility for co-prosperity of ‘Green’ and
‘Growth’, simultaneously; it implies that the rise of GDP caused by the
sacrifice of an ecosystem is not a real significance of green growth.
The one important fact we all have to recognize is that the concept of
“Green Growth” as a strategy for an economic development has materialized
in Asia for the first time. The Concept of “Green Growth” has been proposed
by ESCAP (Economic and Social Commission on Asia and the Pacific), a
United Nations agency for regional development in the Asia Pacific, and the
UNESCAP suggested Green Growth for the economic growth strategy of the
Asian developing countries. The core of the Green Growth strategy is to
decrease poverty by the consistent economic growth and to achieve
environment protection through the increase of eco-efficiency.
Green growth is also highly emphasized as a principle for governmental
policies by South Korean government. The Green growth initiative under the
slogan of ‘low carbon green growth’ promotes environmentally sustainable
economic progress to foster low-carbon and green energy so that the
government can create jobs and be a new growth engines for socially
inclusive development. The way to green growth requires new philosophy,
new knowledge, new science, and new technology. At the moment, there is
a greater demand for formulating a well-balanced strategy that links
economic, social, and environmental dimensions together. Policies must be
created to promote the environment as an opportunity for economic growth
and development.
As we all realize, green growth is of particular importance in the era of
economic challenge and need for sustainable development. Ideas on green
growth and sustainability have been already shared at the other various
forums and have been adapted politically and economically in the past.
Seoul National University also has been working very hard for the past
several years to create a knowledge-base that enables green growth. Now, it
is time to discuss green growth seriously with the Asian Universities Forum
Members universities. I believe our efforts and collaboration will provide a
solid ground for our societies to make progress toward green growth. This
event will be an excellent opportunity to address key emerging issues
relevant to green growth, such as eco-efficiency, green market, and
sustainable consumption and production.
To conclude, I wish all the participants great success in your deliberations.
I look forward to a productive and memorable forum.
Thank you very much.
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