EU Pledges EUR720Mln ODA for Vietnam in 2007

The European Union (EU) will provide EUR720 million in official development assistance (ODA) for Vietnam in 2007, said Markus Cornaro, EU Country Ambassador.

 

Specifically, EU will donate EUR375 million for the Southeast Asian country while the remaining EUR345 million will be provided in soft loans.

 

The pledged finance is lower than the EUR799 million commitment in 2006 including EUR426 million preferential loans and EUR373 million non-refundable aid. EU’s higher non-refundable aid for Vietnam has proven its strong support for the country’s poverty reduction, economic growth and national strategy completion programs.

 

Cornaro stated that Vietnam seems to be more and more professional in conducting ODA-funded projects, adding that the EU will provide Vietnam with more technical assistance in addition to ODA to ensure effective use of the finance.

 

However, Vietnam should pay attention to effective utilization of public finance in order to prevent and combat corruption, advised the EU Ambassador.

 

Between 1995 and 2005, Vietnam received total ODA pledges worth $32.6 billion from individual and group donor countries, of which $15.9 billion has been disbursed.
Labour