The event, jointly organised by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Vietnamese Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), was opened by MOST Vice Minister Bui The Duy and German Ministerial Councillor Fritjof Maennel of the BMBF. Both, as well as the German Ambassador to Vietnam, Dr Guido Hildner, and Vice Minister Nguyen Van Phuc from the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), appreciated and emphasised the opportunities and possibilities in their opening speeches.

On the first day, participants discussed topics such as sustainability, urban development, biodiversity, bioeconomy, health or research in eight different workshops.

CLIENT II projects were widely involved: CAMaRSEC organised a workshop on climate change, AquaViet and ViWat contributed significantly to the workshop on clean water in rural areas. Members of other CLIENT II projects, such as Drought-ADAPT, OrganoRice, Decider, Sand! and Shrimps led sessions or contributed several workshops.

The event not only enabled discussions between BMBF-MOST funded projects (besides CLIENT II e.g. Sustainable Development of Urban Regions (SURE), Bioeconomy International, Health, Biodiversity), but also communication and exchange with projects of other donors, such as International Climate Initiative (IKI), GIZ, and other foundations.

On the second day, the results of the workshops were presented and discussed on stage between scientists and policy makers, local administration and other stakeholders. Examples of German-Vietnamese research cooperation and university-science-industry cooperation highlighted success factors and experiences. BMBF, MOST, NATIV, Nafosted, GIZ, IKI, Dfg, DAAD, AvH, EURAXNESS and various political foundations presented opportunities for further cooperation.

The forum provided a good opportunity for disciplinary, inter- and transdisciplinary dialogues, and for expanding networks. Thus, it hopefully contributed to an even more successful German-Vietnamese research cooperation.

Further information can be found on the official website of GVSD 2023.