Launching ceremony of the program "Mizuiku - I love clean water" in 2023

Suntory and Suntory PepsiCo take strong action to protect water resources through the 9th year of the “Mizuiku – I love clean water” program in Vietnam.

On March 20, 2023, at Kim Dong Primary School - Hanoi, Suntory Group, Suntory PepsiCo Vietnam Beverage Company Limited (Suntory PepsiCo) and the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) in collaboration with the Central Council of Young Pioneers organized the launching ceremony of the program "Mizuiku - I love clean water" in 2023.

With the philosophy of "Sustainable Water Development", Suntory Group is always committed to creating activities to promote water conservation. The Mizuiku program is an educational initiative to raise awareness of water resource protection, implemented by Suntory Group in Japan since 2004. Receiving strong response from people in Japan, along with the desire to expand the program to contribute to the countries where the group operates in production and business, starting from 2015, Vietnam was officially chosen by Suntory to become the first country outside of Japan to expand the program called "Mizuiku - I love clean water".

Along with the sustainable development goals and commitment to contribute to the community where Suntory PepsiCo operates, the program “Mizuiku – I love clean water” is an important pillar in the field of “Protecting water resources” and is also the 6th goal of the 17 sustainable development goals of the United Nations in Vietnam. The program demonstrates Suntory PepsiCo’s strong actions and commitment to protecting water resources and sustainable development in Vietnam. The 8-year journey of implementing the program “Mizuiku – I love clean water” in Vietnam has recorded many impressive results and created a deep impression in the community with more than 2.6 million people benefiting from the program. Of which, more than 141,000 primary school students have participated in 3,728 Mizuiku classes on saving and preserving clean water resources, with the participation of nearly 3,924 teachers and volunteers nationwide.

Mr. Masaaki Fujiwara - Director of Sustainable Development of Suntory Group said: “We are very pleased to see the positive benefits that the program “Mizuiku – I love clean water” has brought to the community in Vietnam. This is also the motivation for us to expand the program to many other countries around the world. In 2022, we are also very proud that the Mizuiku program in Vietnam was honored to be recognized as a program to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and Vietnam in 2022. Accordingly, the program not only brings benefits to society but also serves as a diplomatic bridge between the two countries. From 2023, I hope that with the cooperation model with the Ministry of Education and Training in the next three years, the program will be raised to a new level, reaping more impressive results and making more positive contributions to Vietnam - the country where Suntory Group is operating and doing business.”

Remarks by Mr. Masaki Fujiwara Senior Executive Officer, Suntory Group

“Developing for good” is the vision that both Suntory Group and Suntory PepsiCo aim for in all production and business activities. Understanding that environmental protection as well as water resource protection are knowledge and skills that need to be widely disseminated, especially for school-age children. In December 2022, Suntory PepsiCo Vietnam marked a new milestone for the program when it officially signed a cooperation agreement for the period 2023 - 2025 with the Ministry of Education and Training. With this cooperation and new orientation with the Ministry of Education and Training and the Central Council of Young Pioneers, from 2023, the program will gradually expand its educational scale nationwide, focusing on implementing more useful experiential activities, contributing to spreading awareness and promoting responsible actions in saving and protecting clean water resources to students - the future buds of the country.

Attending and speaking at the signing ceremony of the cooperation program, Dr. Ngo Thi Minh - Deputy Minister of Education and Training acknowledged and highly appreciated the effectiveness of the program "Mizuiku - I love clean water" in recent times. With the positive results achieved, the program has contributed to raising awareness among primary school students about water resource protection, school health and environmental sanitation. The Ministry of Education and Training will continue to create conditions for the effective implementation of the program, achieving the expected goals.

Speech by Deputy Minister of Education and Training Ngo Thi Minh

With a new development orientation in the period of 2023-2025, with the co-chairing role of the Ministry of Education and Training, the co-organizing role of the Central Council of Young Pioneers and partners, the program "Mizuiku - I love clean water" will become a typical model of comprehensive cooperation agreement and bring many benefits to the social community and the young generation of Vietnam. The program will be a strategic connection between the resources in sustainable development of Suntory PepsiCo and Suntory Group with relevant ministries, socio-political organizations, enterprises responsible to the community, media agencies and individuals interested in and wishing to contribute to the program.

Accordingly, under the direction of the Ministry of Education and Training as co-chair of the program, in 2023, "Mizuiku - I love clean water" will be gradually expanded in scale through: Appraising and approving program documents and becoming teaching guides for primary school students in the extracurricular curriculum of 100% of primary schools nationwide; promoting education implementation through training courses for more than 5,000 teachers at 300 schools and organizing 6,000 classes for nearly 210,000 students in grades 3 and 4 in 6 provinces and cities of Lang Son, Hanoi, Da Nang, Dak Nong, Ho Chi Minh City and Vinh Long; supporting 20 clean water projects to improve the quality of school sanitation in each locality.

In particular, within the framework of coordination activities with the Central Council of Young Pioneers, the program also focuses on developing experiential educational content for students when signing a cooperation agreement for the first time with the Forestry Department - Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, organizing extracurricular activities to experience the forest and building environmental information corners in national parks, contributing to spreading awareness and affirming the role of protecting forest resources - preserving clean water sources for Vietnamese children.