(MPI Portal) - On October 17th 2013, in Hanoi the 20 year celebration for development of cooperative relations between Vietnam and donors with the participation of over 300 delegates representing for Ministries, branches and localities, international organizations and donors in Vietnam.
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Minister of Planning and Investment give opening speech. Photo: Duc Trung (MPI Portal)
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Addressing the opening ceremony, Minister Bui Quang Vinh said that Vietnam now has more than 50 donors with development and cooperation activities in most sectors, areas of all the provinces and cities which has ODA capital scale committed through 20 CGs since 1993 of US$78 billion, of which over US$63 billion has been signed and over US$42 billion has been disbursed.
Through the development and cooperation activities, the donor has provided Vietnam with a significant financial resources to implement economic reforms and international integration in the transition to a market economy under the socialism orientation.
ODA capital has an important contribution in the restoration and development of capacity, improvement of quality, effectiveness in operation and management of branches, sectors of socio-economic infrastructure, contributing to the successful implementation of socio-economic strategies and plans.
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Ms. Victoria Kwakwa, Country Director of World Bank in Vietnam. Photo: Duc Trung (MPI Portal)
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Ms. Victoria Kwakwa, Country Director of World Bank in Vietnam delighted at the impressive development of Vietnam. In 1993, from one of the poorest countries in the world with income per capita of US$100 and a low social development index, today Vietnam has become a middle-income country with income per capita of US$1,700/year.
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Mr. JA Nugent, Director General of Southeast Asia General Affair, the Asian Development Bank. Photo: Duc Trung (MPI Portal)
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Mr. JA Nugent, Director General of Southeast Asia General Affair, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said that Vietnam's achievements during the last two decades were admirable, GDP per capita has increased by 4 times while the poverty rate fell from nearly half of the population to just over 10%. The impressive economic and social shift is the result of the important and accurate policy to direct the move from a centrally planned economy to a market one, and increasingly deeper integration with the economies in the region and in the world.
ADB also welcome and certainly support the comprehensive development program of the Government. National Strategic Partnership with Vietnam in the period of 2012-2015 was assessed well-fit to the Socio-economic development Program of Vietnam in the period of 2011-2015 by Mr. JA Nugent. The three pillars of the Program includes inclusive growth, enhancement on economic efficiency and insurance of environmental sustainability.
ADB also actively support Vietnam to participate in collaborative and regional integration initiatives such as the Greater Mekong Sub-region program and integration into the ASEAN Economic Community.
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Mr. Hiroshi Fukada, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan in Vietnam. Photo: Duc Trung (MPI Portal)
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At the ceremony, Mr. Hiroshi Fukada, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan in Vietnam, said since the resumption of ODA loans to Vietnam in November 1992, Japan has always supported Vietnam in socio-economic development. Japan's ODA to Vietnam has reached over US$20 billion so far. Japan's ODA is mainly focused on the development of basic economic infrastructure such as roads and ports.
Mr. Hiroshi Fukada said that it is time for Vietnam to overcome these challenges in order to develop strongly. Japan would use ODA, including technical cooperation in economic restructuring and human resource development besides infrastructure development in the coming years.
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Head of EU Delegation in Vietnam Franz Jessen. Photo: Duc Trung (MPI Portal)
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Head of EU Delegation in Vietnam Franz Jessen shared, in the period of 2014-2020, the EU hopes to maintain high levels of ODA for the development plan of Vietnam as the period of 2007 - 2013, with a total of about €300 million.
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Mr. Jun Dae Joo, Korean Ambassador in Vietnam. Photo: Duc Trung (MPI Portal)
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Also at the ceremony, Mr. Jun Dae Joo, Korean Ambassador in Vietnam also expressed his pleasure at the great progress accomplished in a short time in Vietnam. He said that South Korea has worked closely with the Government of Vietnam, international donors, private sector including non-governmental organizations, the civil social organizations and enterprises to contribute to the goal of Vietnam in becoming a modern industrialized country. Along with the socio-economic development strategy and plan of Vietnam, Korea has actively implemented its commitments to focus on environmental sustainability, human resource development, as well as infrastructure construction. Korea desires its cooperation and development policies to be designed in compatibility with the development needs of Vietnam and in parallel with the 9 priorities.
Minister Counsellor of the French Republic in Vietnam said that France is proud to support Vietnam during 20 years through official development aid. Since 1989, France has pledged €2.5 billion to Vietnam through French Development Agency and French General Treasury. France is now the leading bilateral donor to Vietnam in Europe. France also powerful aid to Vietnam by joining the budget of the European Alliance, the International Development Association of the World Bank, the Asian Development Fund coordinated by ADB and bodies of the United Nations.
Vietnam actively participated in the regional development cooperation and also enjoy many benefits of this collaboration. There are so many diverse initiatives for sub-regional cooperation from the donors and the countries in the GMS as the GMS Cooperation, the Ayeyarwady - Chao Phraya - Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS), Cooperation in the Mekong River Commission, Mekong - Japan Cooperation, Mekong - US Cooperation, Development Triangle of the three border areas of Vietnam - Laos - Cambodia (CLV) ...
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Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung. Photo: Duc Trung (MPI Portal)
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Addressing in the Celebration, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung emphasized in the past 20 years, governments of donor countries, international financial institutions, international organizations and non-governmental foreign organizations have always spent Vietnam's strong support, the enormous resources and the valuable technical assistance for successful implementation of the development and national renewal goals.
Accordingly, ODA for Vietnam focuses primarily on areas such as financial support to balance macro economy; investment on Scio-economic infrastructure development, especially transport, power, irrigation, urban and rural infrastructure; development on health, education and training; agricultural development combined hungry alleviation, poverty reduction; environmental protection in response to climate change, ...
The Prime Minister appreciated and sincerely thanked to governments of donor countries, international financial institutions, international organizations and non-governmental foreign organizations.
Looking back through cooperation, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has stated a number of lessons for further effective cooperation between Vietnam and donors in the new stage of development .
First, the ownership role on national directions, policies and development objectives with sympathy and support of the development partners. This is the factor to represent the spirit of autonomy, strong internal resources and be an important factor to form a partnership to develop effective cooperation.
Second, to ensure reciprocal resources. Timely and appropriate insurance of reciprocal capital is the expression of effort and high responsibility of the Government in development cooperation partnership.
Third, to create favorable regulatory environment, towards to the international standards. The regulations on management and use of ODA are needed to be more uniform, clear, transparent and harmonized with the provisions of the donors is a critical factor for the effective implementation of programs and projects ODA .
Last, to enhance quality of development policy dialogue. In the context of new development, annual Vietnam Partnership Development Forum (VPDF) focus on policy dialogue and expand the participation of the parties, connect between policy dialogue at sectorial level to the national level.
On the solid foundation of partnership on development cooperation built and challenged in the last 20 years, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung believes that the cooperation between Vietnam and the donor community would continue to develop strongly, more effectively in supporting Vietnam to solidify achieved development achievements, to bring the country to a level of sustainable prosperously development. In this process, Vietnam will actively contribute their efforts to support other countries, partners in the international community for the development and prosperity./.
Phuong Linh
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