The French Development Agency (AFD) will fund EUR30.5 million to support private firms in rural Vietnam, the Vietnam News Agency said Thursday. The agreement for the funding was signed by Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Finance Nguyen Cong Nghiep and AFD General Director Jean-Michel Severino on the occasion of a three-day visit by French Prime Minister Francois Fillon to Vietnam. Of the sum, EUR30 million will be refinanced to farming households and small- and medium companies via local people’s credit funds and EUR500,000 will be used to improve management, governance, supervision and assessment of the central and grassroots people’s credit funds. The AFD has to date provided EUR900 million in official development assistance (ODA) to Vietnam since 1994.
