A five-year project to train teachers for vocational training and high schools in Vietnam was launched at a conference in Hanoi on June 20.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide US$34 million in loans for the project in accordance with an agreement signed by the Vietnamese Government and ADB in April 2007.

The US$43-million project will also receive partnership capital of US$5.97 million from the Vietnamese Government and US$3.2 million from universities that are to benefit from the initiative.

The project, to be running until December 2011, aims to improve teaching standards in the nation's high schools.