(VOVworld)- 175 countries signed Paris Agreement on Climate Change at the headquarters of the United Nations (UN) in New York on Friday. This is an important step forward to make the global agreement effective years ahead of plan. The Vietnamese Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Hong Ha attended the event.

The Paris agreement was approved by the 21^st United Nations Framework Convention of the Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Paris last December. In the agreement, all countries were committed to limiting the temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius. It also aims to mobilize at least 100 billion USD annually from developed countries to help developing countries shift to the use of clean energy and fight climate change.

On the sidelines of the signing ceremony, Minister Tran Hong Ha said although the agreement begins to take affect after 2020, it has been opening opportunities for countries, including Vietnam. Vietnam should shift development model which is based on low labor costs and natural resources to a clean and environmentally-friendly model. Minister Ha also pointed out challenges and suggested such measures as forming a sustainable production model and consumption habit and save natural resources. He called for the adoption of the law on climate change, incentives or investors to invest in green house gas emission reduction and proactive adaptation to climate change.