Signatories were Belgian Minister for Cooperation and Development Armand De Decker and Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Cao Viet Sinh.

The signing took place during the fifth session of the Vietnam-Belgium Cooperation Joint Committee held on March 8-9 in Brussels. The session reviewed the two countries' implementation of cooperation projects in the past years and mapped out directions for future cooperation.

According to the document, Belgium will provide Vietnam with 32 million euros in the 2007-2010 period, focusing mostly on developing human resources.

The cooperation will prioritise management of water resources, the protection of the environment, healthcare and education.

Bilateral cooperation will also concentrate on increasing the working capacity of main State institutions and local authorities, raising the quality of State management and public services.

Bettering infrastructural facilities in rural areas to help Vietnam reduce poverty in addition to achieving sustainable development is another aim of the programme.

Minister for Cooperation and Development Armand De Decker noted that the cooperation programme will contribute to bolstering the two countries' relations which have been developing for almost 30 years since the establishment of their bilateral partnership in 1977.

Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Cao Viet Sinh expressed hopes that with its increased cooperation, Belgium will assist Vietnam in being scored off the list of low-income countries by 2010 and rapidly integrating into the world economy.

By 2006, Belgium had invested in 25 projects with a total capital of nearly US$75 million in Vietnam, ranking seventh among European Union investors.