Signatories to the project were VLA President Pham Quoc Anh and United Nations Resident Coordinator John Hendra. The US$600,000 project co-financed by the UNDP and the UK’s Department for International Development will be implemented in three years till 2009.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Mr Anh said it is an urgent need to increase the capacity of VLA chapters at all levels to draw wisdom, experience and other resources from 32,000 members to the successful implementation of legal and judicial reform in Vietnam. 

The project comprises three components: building the organisational capacity for the VLA, supporting legal and judicial reform, and supporting legal assistance services and legal education.