Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Deputy Minister Narend Singh is leading South Africa’s delegation at the 2025 Partnering for Green Growth and Global Goals (P4G) Summit, in Hanoi, Vietnam, from April 14 to 17.

Under the theme ‘Global Partnership for Green Sustainability: Inclusion. Innovation. Responsible Actions.’ the fourth summit of the P4G programme brings together heads of State, government leaders, CEOs and civil society to drive innovation and entrepreneurship aimed at channelling global climate finance into national climate transitions.

“The partnership has provided grant financing, enabling systems support through national platforms and technical assistance to partnerships (businesses) working on climate mitigation and adaptation solutions.

“The partnership is unique in nature in fostering closer working relations between the public and private sectors and in addressing inclusivity through targeted support for both micro, small and medium-sized enterprises and youth and driving green enterprise development,” says Singh.

The programme has three main activities to enable climate finance to low- and middle-income countries and help them strengthen their climate entrepreneur ecosystems.

This includes providing grants and technical assistance to enable climate startup partnerships to become investment ready; improving the enabling market environments in partner countries through national level public-private coalitions called National Platforms; and sharing knowledge related to climate startups and enabling system needs.

The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) is the focal point for the partnership in South Africa and also fulfils the role of co-chair of the National Platform in partnership with the National Business Initiative.

Singh is set to engage with participating countries through the Global Advisory Council.

Key areas for discussion will include private-public partnerships and multilateral collaboration, with considerable reflections on scaling up low-carbon, inclusive and climate-resilient interventions.

The DFFE says Singh’s engagement will provide strategic interventions on the first day of the summit, in the opening session being chaired by the Prime Minister of Vietnam Pham Minh Chinh.

The department says Singh’s intervention will emphasise the critical role of partnerships, financial flows, capacity development and technology transfer in advancing people and planet.

Additionally, the Deputy Minister’s intervention on day two of the summit will highlight the need for sustainable and transformative food systems, as the world is confronted with food insecurity through the negative impacts of climate change and other contributing factors.

The DFFE says Singh will combine his visit to Vietnam with dedicated bilateral discussions in advancing cooperation related to areas of mutual interest, such as wildlife management, environment and climate change as well as fisheries and aquaculture.

Given the current geopolitical environment and economic uncertainty, the department says the timing of these engagements with Vietnam is opportune to advance and further strengthen global south-south relations.

As a global initiative, the P4G programme includes 12 participating countries, namely Bangladesh, Indonesia, Chile, Columbia, Denmark, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mexico, Netherlands, South Korea, Vietnam and South Africa.

The initiative was established in January 2018, with initial funding over a period of five years from Denmark. The Netherlands and South Korea have also joined the programme as donor partner countries, since 2022.

South Africa joined the programme as a country partner in 2019.