Japan Grants $500M in ODA to Vietnam

Japan will provide $500 million in official development assistance (ODA) to Vietnam to implement key infrastructure projects in 2013. Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida announced the decision at a Vietnam-Japan Committee for Cooperation meeting in Tokyo on September 12. At the meeting, the fifth of its kind, Kishida and his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Binh Minh agreed to strengthen the two countries’ strategic partnership, including implementation of infrastructure construction projects in Vietnam. They agreed to bring into full play the Joint Vietnam-Japan Initiative with a view to improving Vietnam’s investment environment and sharpening its competitiveness, especially when Japan is Vietnam’s biggest investor, with more than 1,200 businesses operating in the country. Minh said the Vietnamese government is accelerating the current economic reform towards sustainable development, further improving its investment environment and creating more favorable conditions for foreign companies to do long-term business in the country. He appreciated the valuable volume of ODA Japan has provided to Vietnam over the past 20 years and voiced Vietnam’s commitment to utilizing the aid effectively. Kishida said besides ODA, Japan will help develop Vietnam’s infrastructure in the form of the public-private partnership (PPP) model.  It will also consider strengthening education cooperation with Vietnam to generate young qualified human resources for the Southeast Asian nation. The two FMs said Vietnam and Japan will work closely together at regional and international forums to promote regional economic connectivity such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement and the building of the ASEAN Community. Kishida confirmed that Vietnam is one of Japan’s strategic partners and Japan wants to foster this strategic partnership. Both sides agreed to convene the 6th meeting of the committee in 2014. (vov.vn Sept 13)