VietNamNet Bridge
- Development partners pledged US$7.9 billion in official development
assistance (ODA) for Vietnam
in 2011 at the end of the two-day Consultative Group (CG) meeting in Hanoi on December 8.

Minister of Planning and Investment Vo Hong Phuc announced
the total amount of ODA pledged for Vietnam next year, mainly for
infrastructure, transportation and climate change, including $3.3 billion from
bilateral partners ($1.76 billion from Japan) and the remaining $4.6 billion
from multilateral partners.

This is the first time in the past several years that the
committed ODA for Vietnam
reduced. Earlier, it rose from $3.7 billion in 2005 to $8 billion in 2009.

Last year, the World Bank was the largest donor with $2.5
billion and Japan
was the largest bilateral donor with $1.64 billion. This year Japan still
maintains this position.

“Though the amount of ODA committed for 2011 is lower than
the level in 2010, the figure of $7.9 billion is still impressive,” Phuc said.

As Vietnam
enters Middle Income Country status, it cannot be granted the preferential
lending treatments that it enjoyed before, Minister Phuc says, noting that ODA
will have shorter lending terms but higher interest rates.

Because of that, Vietnam will prioritize ODA for
projects that will serve economic development and are capable of paying back
the loans they get, Phuc said.

He also said this amount will mainly be used for
infrastructural facilities, transport projects, and programs to deal with
climate change.

The $7.9 billion ODA amount committed at this year’s CG
meeting brings the total ODA sum pledged for Vietnam since 1998 to over $64
billion.

The mid-term CG meeting in 2011 will take place in the
central province of Ha Tinh in June.

Vietnam - a good model of ODA use

At the two-day CG meeting in Hanoi,
the Vietnamese government and development partners discussed opportunities and
challenges that Vietnam
will face when it enters a new period of development.

Their discussions also focused on measures to stabilize the
macro-economy, promote pubic governance, combat corruption, and securing future
relations between Vietnam
and its development partners when it becomes a middle-income country.

Development partners praised Vietnam
for working out plans to resolve issues relating to climate change and
sustainable environment and pledged to promote their assistance for steady
development thus enabling Vietnam
to reach its millennium development goals by 2015.

The WB Country Director Victoria Kwakwa praised Vietnam
as a good model of ODA use for other countries to follow, with disbursement
reaching $4.1 billion in 2009 and $3.5 billion in 2010. She said that Vietnam’s
experiences have been mentioned at major international forums and meetings
which provided an excellent opportunity for it to share its experiences with
other countries in the world.

The WB hopes to continue to witness Vietnam’s achievements in many
other fields and help the country boost socio-economic development on an
effective and sustainable basis, she said.

Minister of Planning and Investment Phuc thanked partners
for assisting Vietnam in
coping with challenges to become a middle-income country and hoped that Vietnam
would continue to receive effective support from development partners in the
future.

“We are aware that along with Vietnam’s development, ODA
recipient status and structure of funding will be changed in line with every
step of the country’s development, but we are now recognized as a middle-income
country,” Phuc said.

“Vietnam
needs ODA and support from other countries to deal with important issues
relating to healthcare, education, poverty reduction, climate change. The
Vietnamese government is committed to using ODA effectively,” he added.

Deputy PM Pham Gia Khiem also emphasized the significance of
ODA in Vietnam’s
social and economic development plan in 2010-2015 and said that the Vietnamese
government will try its best to use this source of capital the most
effectively.

Linh Thu