The information technology (IT) and communications sector will be further prioritised for official development assistance (ODA) to speed up its development and make Vietnam a strong country in this field.

According to the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC), since 1993, ODA for IT and communications has been modest, reaching only $578 million, of which nearly $490 million was in preferential loans and the remainder non-refundable aid.

The main sponsors include the World Bank (WB), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the European Commission, France, the United States, Japan, the Republic of Korea and several United Nations organisations.

Among the leading ODA projects underway, the Vietnamese IT and communications development project was loaned $87.87 million by the WB, the $46.34 million postgraduate IT and communications education project and the $29.8 million Internet development project for the community were both provided with loans by the Japanese government.

During the 2011-2015 period, Vietnam expects to raise $1.5-2 billion from ODA to develop its economic and technical infrastructure, including information and telecommunications.

Cao Manh Cuong, deputy head of the Foreign Economic Relations Department under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, said that the effective use of ODA will help to raise capital from the private sector, foreign direct investment and public-private partnerships (PPP).

Recently, the MIC has signed PPP agreements with the world’s leading IT conglomerates such as Intel, Microsoft and Huawei to train up human resources for Vietnamese businesses, award scholarships to IT students and improve the country’s telecommunications infrastructure.

Source: VIR