Vietnam, Japan work toward stepping up ODA project progress
VOV.VN - Vietnam supports regular meetings to be held between relevant Vietnamese agencies and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to iron out snags and ramp up ODA projects in the country.
Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh made the statement at a reception in Hanoi on August 23 for JICA Executive Senior Vice President Junichi Yamada who is in Vietnam for a working visit.
Minh expressed his elation at the positive development of the Extensive Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity in Asia between Vietnam and Japan in recent times, noting Japan is Vietnam’s leading strategic partner in official development assistance (ODA).
The country of the Rising Sun has so far granted US$29.3 billion in ODA, accounting for 30% of the total foreign aid Vietnam has received from foreign donors. Of the total about US$1.8 billion is worth of non-refundable aid.
The Deputy PM thanked the Government and people of Japan for having actively supported ODA for nearly 30 years, making an important contribution to socio-economic development in Vietnam.
He also highly appreciated the important role of JICA and Junichi Yamada personally in promoting and implementing ODA projects in Vietnam, and expressed wish that the Japanese side would continue to provide ODA especially the new generation ODA to Vietnam, as agreed upon by Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
He told his guest that the Ministry of Finance of Vietnam is actively discussing with the Japanese Embassy in Vietnam a proposal for a Japanese loan to support the Vietnamese government’s socio-economic development and recovery programme, focusing on infrastructure construction. strategic infrastructure, transport infrastructure, digital transformation, climate change response, and health care.
He suggested JICA work closely with the Ministry of Finance of Vietnam to promote the next procedures so as to soon achieve concrete results.
At the meeting, the two sides exchanged views on ways to remove difficulties and accelerate a number of delayed ODA projects as well as orientations for ODA cooperation between the two countries in the coming time.