Around 50 international delegations will participate in this year’s Consultative Group (CG) for Vietnam to be held from December 14-15 in Hanoi to discuss the implementation of the socio-economic development plan for the 2006-2010 period, the World Bank said.
The event entitled "2006-2010 Socio-economic Development Plan: From Plan to Action” will be a key forum for discussions on policies and the partnership between the donor community and the government of Vietnam.
Participants will also discuss matters involving action programs of the Vietnamese government to carry out the five-year socio-economic development plan (2006-2010) and donors' general report on Vietnam's 2007 development.
The report will concentrate on solutions accelerating the country's economic growth and business environment, reforming finance, banking and state-owned enterprises, developing human resources, natural resources and environment management, and bird flu control.
Besides, it will particularly highlight the Vietnamese government's initiatives on corruption and public finance reform, and its handling of the Project Management Unit 18 (PMU-18) scam.
Notably, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung for the first time will make direct dialogues with donors at the meeting.
Vietnamese government officials and international donors will talk about measures to facilitate the efficiency of projects funded by Official Development Assistance (ODA).
Foreign donors are expected to declare their ODA pledges for next year at the end of the meeting.
In the 2005CG meeting, donors committed to provide Vietnam US$3.748 billion in ODA, of which roughly US$1.8 billion has been disbursed so far, surpassing the year target of US$1.75 billion and up from US $1.6 billion last year, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI).
Since the beginning of the year, Vietnam has received over US$3 billion in ODA funds, representing an on-year 20 per cent, comprising of loans worth US$2.543 billion and grants costing US$522.4 million.
Vietnam has set a goal to disburse around US$2.2 billion in ODA funds annually from now to 2010.
“ODA attraction for 2007 is extremely bright, and is likely to exceed this year’s set target of US$3.748 billion”, said the Minister of MPI Vo Hong Phuc.
It is absolutely realistic for Vietnam to obtain the figure as the government recently issued a policy giving localities the authority to approve ODA projects, in an effort to reduce administrative procedures and create competitiveness among localities for better management of ODA capital, he added.
(Down Jones, VNA)
Vietnamese
