Vietnam hosts 1st Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF) Caravan

Officiating the workshop, ASEAN General Secretary Le Luong Minh expressed his appreciation for Japan’s strong support for ASEAN efforts in narrowing development gaps through capacity-building under the Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI).

Assistant to Foreign Minister Vu Quang Minh in turn articulated that more active formulation of JAIF projects by Vietnamese proponents would contribute to narrowing the development gap within the region and thus to the ASEAN community-building process.

Ambassador Kazuo Sunaga, head of the Japan delegation to ASEAN, highlighted the opportunities arising from the establishment of ASEAN Economic Community and how Vietnam has benefited from the technical assistance and capacity building rendered by external parties such as JAIF.

He emphasised the ASEAN Secretariat would continue to work with JMT on how to further support Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar (CLMV countries) as ASEAN broadens and deepens its regional integration process through the post 2015 agenda.

The workshop was attended by a large number of participants including government officials from substantially all ministries and focused on the successful implementation of 180 projects in disaster management, anti-terrorism, economic integration and youth exchange with the aim of improving integration capacity for ASEAN countries.

In closing remarks, Ambassador Sunaga praised the lively interactions among participants throughout the workshop and encouraged them to utilise all valuable insights, concrete comments and suggestions for developing project proposals towards effective implementation and completion of future JAIF-supported projects.