AEF 6: Commitments to Increased Aid

2013 will be an important year in the five-year Socio-economic Development Plan (SEDP, 2011- 2015) to advance and promote Vietnam’sdevelopment agenda. So, the message of the Government of Vietnam is that it is essential to ensure appropriate measures to overcome social and economic challenges Vietnam is facing. The Government will also pledge to take stronger steps in economic restructuring, good settlement of climate change impacts, innovative thinking on new growth models, and extensive fight against corruption. More importantly, the Government of Vietnam also understands the implications of new international cooperation development. Some traditional partners will end aid to Vietnam, while some other new partners will stand in.

 

With a view to supporting Vietnam's reform programme, the Vietnamese Government and development partners will implement the Busan Partnership Document on effective development cooperation on the basis of Vietnam’s priorities. Via this forum, specific commitments concerning civil society, the private sector and other areas will be discussed throughout 2012, and the results reflected in the Vietnam Partnership Document (VPD).

 

First of all, the Vietnamese Government highly appreciates the mobilisation and effective use of all development resources, including ODA and concessional loans, to meet socioeconomic development needs. However, the Government recognises that Vietnam still needs ODA support and preferential loans, technology transfer and knowledge sharing from development partners, as Vietnam is just in the early stage of a middle-income country (MIC). Besides, the Government will actively create favourable conditions to mobilise non-traditional financial development resources.

 

Another message to be centrally discussed is to widen participation of the private sector, civil organisations, non-governmental organisations and domestic academics, and promote South-South relations and tripartite cooperation to achieve effective cooperation.

 

And, the final message is how to enhance and broaden the relationships between the sectoral partnership groups and industry partnership groups (SPGs/ISGs), AEF, Vietnam Business Forum, Anticorruption Forum, and Vietnam Development Forum (VDF) in the future. These relationships will help shift the focus from aid effectiveness to development effectiveness in order to ensure cohesion and value for partners. Besides, Vietnam’s aid environment change is taken into account.

 

In the 2012-2015 period, VPD will focus on the following main contents: Controlled development priorities; Focus on results; Broad development partnership; Transparency and accountability. By doing so, the Vietnamese Government and development partners agree to make strong commitments to improving aid effectiveness. In particular, the Vietnamese Government is committed to implementing policies and measures to support fair competition, create a positive business environment and expand the involvement of the private sector in development programmes, including domestic and foreign infrastructure investment in the form of public private partnership (PPP). The Government and development partners are also committed to enhancing and expanding dialogues on effective development cooperation to ensure compliance with Vietnam’s development priorities; strengthening Vietnam’s public financial management, planning and bidding system; and accelerating the implementation of programmes and projects. In addition, development partners pledge to improve the predictability of ODA capital and concessional loans to support the Government’s medium-term public investment planning; assist the Government to expand partnerships with civil social organisations, the private sector and trilateral cooperation with other developed countries.