AFD Provides Euro 35Mln to Support Vietnam's SMEs Development

On November 30, 2005, in Hanoi, in the presence of Mrs Le Thi Bang Tam, Vice Minister of Finance and Mr. Jean-François Blarel, French Ambassador in Vietnam, Mr. Nguyn Thanh Do, Deputy Director of the Department for External Affairs, Ministry of Finance and Mr. Michel JACQUIER, AFD Group Director of Operations in Foreign Countries, signed two loan agreements totalling Euro 35 million to support the development of SMEs in Vietnam.

 

The loans contribute to the funding of the Vietnam Small and Medium Enterprise Development Program Loan (SDPL) which amounts to US$165 million and is cofinanced by the Asian Development Bank (US$100 million) and KfW Entwicklungsbank (Euro 20 million).

 

The objective of the SDPL is to support the Government’s efforts to create an environment which is conducive to business development in order to stimulate economic growth and job creation.

 

The issues addressed include the enhancement of the policy and regulatory framework and the improvement of SMEs access to resources (finance and land use rights) and to international markets.

 

The executive agency of the SDPL is the Minister of Planning and Investment (Agency for promotion of SMEs – ASMED). The SDPL is expected to be completed in 2007.

 

To date, the total loans committed by the AFD Group to Vietnam have reached Euro 619 million (including private sector operations), including Euro 562 million concerning ODA.