The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has to date financed a total of 173 programs and projects worth more than $16 billion and also granted non-refundable aid of $340 million to Vietnam, said Deputy Prime Minister-Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh. DPM Minh released the figure at a meeting with ADB Vice President Ahmed Saeed in Hanoi on July 2. Mr. Minh highlighted the ADB’s active engagement in policy consultation and institutional building for government agencies, including the implementation of e-Consultation and e-Cabinet for the Government Office. He also highly valued the ADB’s funding for seven programs worth $676.96 million in the fiscal year of 2018 before Vietnam graduated from the ADB’s preferential loans on January 1, 2019. On this occasion, the official called on the ADB to create conditions for Vietnam to access less preferential loans or combine loans with aid to ease borrowing costs and ensure the safety of public debts. For his part, ADB Vice President Ahmed Saeed highly valued the Vietnamese government’s close supervision of projects using ODA loans from the group of six donors, including the ADB, especially after the government established the national steering committee for OAD and preferential loans. He described Vietnam as an example in the use of ODA capital and pledged that the ADB will continue to accompany the country to maintain its stability and sustainable economic development. On the same day, the ADB vice president had a meeting with Politburo member Nguyen Van Binh, head of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee’s Economic Commission. Mr. Saeed vowed that the ADB would continue financing Vietnam in developing the private sector, science-technology, and infrastructure, especially transportation, energy, human resources, and climate change adaptation. (Bao Chinh Phu, BNews, Tin Tuc, Tin Tuc, VTV, VTV, Thoi Bao Ngan Hang, VietnamNews, tgvn)
