(VOVworld)- Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung attended the 21st Conference of Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) that opened in Paris on November 30.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon (L) welcomes Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung (Photo: VNA)

The main goal of the conference is to achieve a legally binding and universal agreement on climate change, also known as Paris agreement 2015 that targets keeping global warming below 2 degrees Celsius at the end of the 21st century in comparison with the 1850-1990 pre-industrial period.

The event attracted 1,300 delegates, including 150 heads of state and government, and leaders of international organisations representing 196 UNFCC members.

Before the opening ceremony, French President Francois Hollande and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon hosted a reception for Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and heads of delegations.

In his opening remarks, President Hollande said: "These are two big global challenges we have to face up to, because we have to leave our children more than a world freed of terror, we also owe them a planet protected from catastrophes."

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the success of COP21 lies on the world leaders.

If the Paris agreement is adopted, this will be the first time over two decades of negotiations within the UN framework, the international community reaches a binding agreement with the involvement of major emitters of greenhouse gases, including the developed and developing countries.

PM Nguyen Tan Dung is due to deliver a keynote speech at the event that affirms the Vietnamese government’s political commitment to actively and responsibly coping with climate change by specific actions on both national and global scale.

Earlier, Vietnam is among 150 countries that made national commitment to cutting down on greenhouse gas emissions towards keeping the global temperature below 2 degrees Celsius compared to the pre-industrial level by 2100.-