The Japanese Government will fund the third phase of the Small and Medium Enterprise Finance Programme (SMEFP) for Vietnam , with focus on the supporting industries, said ambassador Mitsuo Sakaba.
At a meeting in Hanoi on Feb. 24, the State Bank of Vietnam Governor Nguyen Van Giau and the Japanese ambassador hailed the results of the project’s first and second phases, saying that they have met Vietnamese SMEs’ demand for capital.
By late 2008, as many as 736 local SMEs had benefited from the two phases of the project, during which 4 billion JPY and 6.1 billion JPY were offered, respectively.
The project also helped raise commercial banks’ capacity in managing loans.
Governor Giau spoke highly of the Japanese government’s decision to resume ODA provision for Vietnam, stressing that the Vietnamese government will work closely with Japan to implement ODA-funded projects efficiently.
The Japanese diplomat affirmed that Japan will expand cooperation with Vietnam and increase capital assistance to the Southeast Asian country to help it overcome the impacts of the world economic crisis.