Viet Nam’s experience in developing eco-industrial parks was selected for presentation at Egypt’s Strategic Workshop on Developing a National Framework for Sustainable Industrial Areas (SIAs), held in Cairo on 14 July. Ms. Nguyen Tram Anh, National Project Manager of the Global Eco-Industrial Parks Programme in Viet Nam (GEIPP Viet Nam), joined the event online as an international speaker.

Rather than serving solely as a forum for exchanging experience, the workshop formed part of Egypt’s process of developing a national policy framework for sustainable industrial areas. Through dialogue among government authorities, the private sector and development organizations, the event sought to identify policy, institutional and financing gaps, as well as develop practical roadmaps and solutions. The outcomes of the discussions will be consolidated to support Egypt’s policymaking and industrial area planning.

Egypt is also a participating country in the Global Eco-Industrial Parks Programme, implemented by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) with support from the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO). The country is using the International Framework for Eco-Industrial Parks, developed by UNIDO, the World Bank Group and GIZ, as a common reference for assessing industrial parks and guiding their transition towards more sustainable models.

During the international experience-sharing session, Viet Nam was one of four countries invited to present, alongside Türkiye, Morocco and Jordan. Ms. Nguyen Tram Anh outlined Viet Nam’s gradual development of its policy framework and implementation of the eco-industrial park model, covering resource efficiency and cleaner production, industrial symbiosis, and capacity-building support for industrial parks and enterprises.

The presentation highlighted practical results achieved across 10 industrial parks and 159 enterprises, where more than 1,000 solutions have been implemented, generating estimated annual savings of approximately US$7.63 million. These experiences provided practical perspectives relevant to Egypt’s ongoing development of its national framework for sustainable industrial areas.

Viet Nam’s participation in the workshop reflects international interest in practical experience gained from the country’s development of eco-industrial parks. As the green transition becomes an increasingly prominent global trend, exchanges among countries are expected to support stronger policy development and advance the transformation of industrial areas towards more sustainable models.