Switzerland increases development aid to Vietnam

Switzerland announced on September 18 that it will increase development aid to Vietnam in the next four-year period to 123 million Swiss francs (US$132.8 million).

This represents an increase of about 50% compared with the budget for the previous four-year period, according to Swiss Ambassador to Vietnam Andrej Motyl.

In line with Vietnam’s aim to become an industrialized country by 2020 and its middle-income status, Motyl said the focus will shift from poverty reduction to economic development cooperation.

The new development framework stresses supporting Vietnamese small-and-medium enterprises to increase their productivity and competitiveness through better access to credit. “If the small-and-medium enterprises wither away, the whole future of the economy will be at stake,” he said.

Since 1992, Switzerland has contributed about US$360 million to Vietnam’s socio-economic development and reform agenda.

At the launching ceremony of the new development framework, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen The Phuong applauded the Swiss help and said that Vietnam will improve the progress of Switzerland’s investment projects in the country, which totaled about US$2 billion in 2012.

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