Vietnam will require about US$140 billion in development investment to accelerate its economic growth rate from now till 2010 in hope of escaping the list of poor countries and becoming a nation with per capita income of US$1,000, Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said at the Consultative Group of Donors’ Meeting on December 14.
Attaching importance to the role of official development assistance (ODA) loans, the ASEAN country expects ODA disbursement will hit US$11 billion by then, PM Dung reiterated.
To create a milestone in ODA attraction, the Vietnamese government recently approved a new decree on ODA management with improved transparency, uniform procedural steps in a bid to effectively implement ODA-funded projects, particularly in the infrastructure field, Planning and Investment Minister Vo Hong Phuc said.
Vietnam’s ODA disbursement is forecast to reach over $2 billion in 2007, representing an on-year increase of 14 per cent, Phuc said, adding ODA attraction for the coming year is extremely bright, and likely to exceed this year’s set target of $3.74 billion.
So far this year, the country has settled $1.78 billion ODA, surpassing the year target of $1.75 billion.
At the CG meeting this time, the donors also discussed key problems regarding Vietnam’s infrastructural networks, the effective fight against rampant corruption, and administrative reforms.
World Bank (WB) Country Director in Vietnam Klaus Rohland spoke highly of the fruitful results of the doi moi (renewal) adopted by Vietnam since 1986, seeing it as a powerful case for economic integration.
“Vietnam’s transition to a market economy has gone hand-in-hand with greater international integration, and this increased openness and improved business environment have attracted a sizeable volume of FDI,” Rohland told a Vietnam News Agency.
Rohland also warned that the new phase of integration, associated with accession to the WTO, as well as potentially deeper regional and bilateral agreements, raise important challenges for Vietnam.
Vietnam’s international integration “has resulted in a range of legal and institutional reforms, and strengthened the incentives to accelerate the restructuring of the state sector”.
Regarding the country’s 2006-10 socio-economic development plan, representatives of over 600 NGOs emphasized that the Vietnamese government should create favorable conditions for small, medium sized enterprises and adopt flexible policies in the post-WTO era to realize its WTO commitments with a focus on closely supervising bad impacts on the poor.
In respect to PMU18 scandal, the transport minister Ho Nghia Dung just informed that up to now 17 agencies and 40 individuals have been disciplined for involvement in the scam.
So far around 50 international donors have committed to providing capital for Vietnam’s projects with a view to help the country meet its socio-economic development goals, especially poverty reduction.
At present, Japan is Vietnam’s biggest ODA provider with total pledges for 2006 worth $835 million.
(Local sources)
Vietnamese
