Vietnamese ministries support Vietnam’s first international Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) summit | News
Vietnam demonstrated its clear commitment to becoming a serious SAF leader on Wednesday, as several key ministries gathered in Da Nang for the country’s first international SAF summit and the Asia SAF Association (ASAFA) signed two institutional agreements with state bodies.
The ASAFA Innovation & Policy Summit (IPS) Vietnam 2026, held in Da Nang from May 6 to 8, brought together leaders from around 70 organizations, including high-level policymakers from the National Assembly’s Committee on Economic and Financial Affairs, the Ministries of Industry and Trade, Finance, Construction and Science and Technology, in addition to airlines, fuel producers, financiers and technology providers. The summit was opened by Mr. Ho Quang Buu, Vice Chairman of the Da Nang People’s Committee.
The first MOU was signed with the Agency for Innovation, Green Transition and Industry Promotion (IGIP), a body under Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade, which established a strategic framework for SAF capacity building, technical knowledge transfer and policy development support. The second, signed with the Da Nang Innovation Startup Support Center (DISSC), positions Da Nang as a hub for SAF innovation through jointly organized events, expert networking and workforce development.
“Vietnam has the key foundations needed to build a competitive SAF ecosystem,” said Fabrice Espinosa, Founder and CEO of ASAFA. “The question is not whether SAF will scale up. The question is where and who will take the lead.”
Since 2024, ASAFA has established itself as Asia Pacific’s leading independent voice on SAF. Its members and partners, spanning 44 organizations in 17 countries, have shaped SAF policy in Asian governments, driven real SAF procurement and certificate purchases, and produced the region’s first APAC SAF Outlook report. The association was recognized as winner of the EuroCham Sustainability Award 2025 and represented at the COP30 in Belém.
IPS Vietnam 2026 is the first of three summits that ASAFA will convene this year, with Thailand in June and Malaysia in October. In addition to the summits, ASAFA will release three major publications, launch a Market Structures Committee to harmonize regional standards, and open the first intake for the International SAF Professional Training Academy in September.
