Sweden has funded a combined SEK1.1 billion ($154.64 million) for the electricity industry of Vietnam since the two countries set up diplomatic ties 40 years ago. The European country granted SEK600 million ($84.35 million) and provided soft loans worth SEK500 million ($70.29 million) for Vietnam during the period, the Vietnam News Agency said Monday, citing Deputy Director Pham Hung of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Energy Department. The Vietnam-Sweden Rural Energy Program (VSRE) has helped Vietnam enhance its capacity in planning, developing and managing renewable energy sources, Hung said at a seminar held in Hanoi on Dec. 14 to review the implementation of the program over the 2003-2009 period. Also, the program helped improve socioeconomic development among ethnic minority people in the northern mountainous province of Ha Giang and the central coastal province of Quang Nam, Hung attributed. VSRE was funded by the Swedish government via the Sweden International Development Agency (SIDA) with an amount of over SEK50 million (over $7 million).
