Vietnam, Japan Strengthening Cooperation through ODA Projects

During the past 20 years, Japan has provided ODA to support Vietnam’s socio-economic development through building infrastructure, human resource training and institutional and policy reforms, etc.

Mr Mori Mutsuya appreciated big projects in Vietnam in the recent years funded by Japan such as Hanoi’s ring road 3 project, Terminal 2 at Noi Bai airport project and affirmed that one of Japan's focuses in 2014 is towards a future secure and multiple-choice society for the younger generation. He said that, in addition to investment in infrastructure projects, Japan will promote the transfer of technology and experience to operate and maintain the project in an efficient manner.

For example, on Lach Huyen port project started on February 15^th in Hai Phong, JICA Chief Representative said Japan in collaboration with the Ministry of Transport were building the database to be ensure maintenance and safety right after the completion of construction.

On the urban railway project, Mr Mori Mutsuya said: "Japan is currently conducting necessary technology transfer for Vietnam with the cooperation of the Tokyo Metro Co., Ltd and the Department of Transportation of Osaka city. JICA will continue to support the hardware and software techniques to develop urban railway system in Vietnam."

According to Mr Mori, the Vietnam's economy is undergoing strong development and attracting huge interest from investors around the world. In addition to strict legal framework and favorable investment environment, Vietnam also needs to pay attention to food safety issues and improving urban environment.

To solve these problems, JICA will help Vietnamese people to feel more secure and create more choices for the younger generation. Japan will carry out technical cooperation to support Vietnam in building and strengthening inspection mechanisms and food safety. On the other hand, the Japanese have also studied a model especially designed for Vietnam to ensure even farmers with small-scale production can also apply it to produce safe agricultural products easily.

Towards to PPP projects
Besides positive sides, Vietnam still meets with many problems making the speed of many projects fail to achieve its objectives. The most prominent of which is the issue of compensation and ground clearance, and the delay in framing legal documents, all of which have more or less influenced the psychology of investors. In the standpoint of both Vietnam and Japan, the JICA representative said "We will carry out exchange and discussion as well as support the building the relevant provisions in necessary case aimed at solving problems."

Mr Mori also said in the future, the priorities and direction of JICA in ODA policy in Vietnam is to continue to support in a balanced way, highly concentrated in three areas including promoting growth and enhancing international competitiveness, strengthening governance and support for vulnerable subjects, with basic motto is to assist Vietnam to achieve basic goals of becoming a modern industrialised country by 2020.

JICA’s desire is to increase cooperation and support, not only measures to cope with climate change and the environment, but also in the field of state-owned enterprises restructuring to create a stable economy and sustainable development in the future.

In fiscal year 2014, JICA will cooperate with Vietnam in 12 engineering projects, 71 training courses funded by Japanese ODA loans. From the practical implementation and disbursement of ODA in Vietnam in 2013, JICA’s direction in 2014 will focus on training and human resources towards projects under public-private partnership model (PPP). However, Mr Mori also said that to attract capital to build the PPP project is difficult, not only in Vietnam but also in many Asian countries.