On November 6, “China- Vietnam Joint Statement” was issued by the two parties during President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Socialist Republic of Vietnam, launching the “Project of Comparison on Holocene Sedimentary Evolution between Yangtze River Delta and Red River Delta”.

To implement the consensus reached by both leaders of the two parties, the kick-off ceremony for “Project of Comparison on Holocene Sedimentary Evolution between Yangtze River Delta and Red River Delta” was held at China Geological Survey (CGS) in Beijing recently, which represented the starting point of project operation and China-Vietnam Marine Geosciences Cooperation.

Deputy Director of CGS Wang Yan, Vice Chairman of Technological Imperial Academy of Vietnam Yang Yuhai, Representative of Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs of Chinese Foreign Ministry Zhou Jian, Director of Marine Department of National Boundary Commission of Vietnam Foreign Ministry Li Guiqiong were present at the ceremony and delivered remarks.

Mr Wang Yan said that the cooperative research makes great significance in sciences, and would provide powerful support for resources development and environment protection. Being the frontier of Chinese economic development, Long River Delta is faced with a series of resources and environmental issues with its fast growth, while Red River Delta is also challenged by the same problems. With the cooperation in field of marine geosciences, better communication and collaborative mechanism is going to be established, leading to huge economic and social benefits and more solid foundation for much extensive and deeper cooperation between the two parties.

Under the leadership of the Ministry of Land and Resources of the People’s Republic of China, CGS advanced the project in an active manner, and reached consensus with Technological Imperial Academy of Vietnam on the overall work plan, content and technology roadmap of the cooperation. Ideas were also exchanged on future cooperative research regarding costal line geo-environment & geo-hazards, and costal wetland ecological geology. According to the cooperation agreement, the two parties will base further study on geological survey and research achievements made on Long River Delta, Red River Delta and coastal areas. Future survey and comprehensive comparison study will be mainly about delta, geomorphology evolution of the adjacent continental shelf, sequence stratigraphy, estuary and shelf deposit dynamics and the effect of human activities on estuary delta evolution, etc.