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Vietnam pledged to effectively use loans from the Asian Development Bank (ADB),
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said in Hanoi
on May 5.
PM Dung made the commitment while receiving ADB President
Haruhiko Kuroda, who was in Vietnam
to attend the 44th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of ADB. PM Dung said that Vietnam received effective
assistance from ADB during its development process and expressed his hope of
receiving further help from the bank to expand cooperation. He asked ADB to coordinate with relevant Vietnamese agencies
to ease hindrances and disburse ADB projects, especially ones investing in
transport infrastructure and poverty reduction. PM Dung described the ADB annual meeting as a major event
for both ADB and Vietnam ,
with a belief that the event would successfully contribute to boosting
cooperation between Vietnam
and ADB. He informed the guest that during the past three months Vietnam had
been focusing on implementing measures to control inflation, stabilise the
macro-economy and ensure social welfare, while maintaining sustainable
development of the economy. As a result, initial positive signals on exchange rate
management, gold trading and trade deficit reduction have been seen. However, Vietnam
still faces many difficulties and must attempt to control inflation more
strictly. Haruhiko Kuroda praised Vietnam’s assistance in organising
the ADB meeting, affirming that ADB would increase preferential loans to Vietnam,
especially to help the country carry out projects in environment, transport
infrastructure and poverty reduction. After the reception, PM Dung witnessed the signing of an
agreement where ADB will give a loan of 1.38 billion USD to Vietnam, to enhance nationwide
clean water access, conserve threatened forests, and ease urban gridlock. ADB urged to invest
more in agriculture The Asian Development Bank (ADB) should provide more
financial resources and investments for the agricultural sector in Asian countries
in order to strengthen cooking security and prevent inflation due to high food
prices. The idea was contributed by members of ADB’s Board of
Governors and representatives from large countries at the first plenary session
of the 44th annual ADB meeting in Hanoi
on May 5. According to an Indian representative, the current rising
inflation trend in the region is causing adverse impacts on poor people in each
nation and the whole region as well. Therefore, together with priorities given
to disaster mitigation, ADB should increase investment in the agricultural
sector and strengthen connectivity through public-private partnership (PPP) for
agricultural development. In addition, ADB needs to boost soft links to speed up
cooperation and information sharing in addressing issues such as epidemics and
natural disasters in the region. The Indian representative suggested ADB promptly discover an
effective mechanism to connect the Asian region with Africa
and strengthen the South-South cooperation, as well as call upon its member
countries to contribute more to ADB’s fund, in order to increase resources for
development and for addressing regional challenges. Sharing this point of view, Marisa Lago, Assistant Secretary
for International Affairs and Treasury Department of the US, warned that high inflation accompanied by
high food and fuel prices are threatening the recovery of Asia,
while poor people are yet to get appropriate assistance in food and energy to
cope with the shock. Therefore, to reach sustainable development, developed
countries in Asia should share trade surpluses
with developing ones, she said. The US wants ADB to maintain stable loans for underdeveloped
countries, which need ADB resources to develop their economies and narrow the
development gap with the developed, she said. While emphasising the importance of pouring more into the
ADB fund, Lago said the US
will cooperate with ADB and other financial organisations to maximise this
source of capital. A German representative stated that agricultural development
should be relocated onto ADB’s investment focus to ensure regional food
security and effectively fight inflation and high food prices. Pointing out challenges facing the region, a representative
from the Republic of Korea suggested establishment of an Asian vision committee
led by ADB, to strengthen connectivity among member countries, share
information and effectively settle challenges in general inequality and
development gaps. The recovery and growth of Asia
are a result of economic restructuring, he said, adding that to reach the goal
of sustainable and balanced growth, ADB should have more flexible policies that
create more conditions to increase capital sources for poor countries in the
region. The participants suggested ADB focus more investment on
regional export and infrastructure, with its continued support for Asian
countries to develop markets and connect supply networks. ADB needs to continue making reforms on administration and
strengthen cooperation with the World Bank (WB), the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) and G8 countries to intensify its power. Earlier, ADB President Kuroda and RoK Minister of Strategy
and Finance Jeung-Hyun Yoon signed an agreement to extend and expand RoK
support for ADB projects in Asia-Pacific in the fields of renewable energy,
water, sustainable transport, education, finance and administration. Vietnam, ADB sign $1.38 billion loan deal Vietnam’s
central bank and Asian Development Bank have reached a $1.38 billion lending
deal to enhance nationwide clean water access, conserve threatened forests, and
ease urban gridlock. The loan agreement has been signed by State Bank of Vietnam Governor Nguyen Van Giau and Asian
Development Bank (ADB) President Haruhiko Kuroda in Hanoi. Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan
Dung witnessed the signing ceremony. “ADB’s assistance will help ensure that more people in
Vietnam have access to clean water, more livable cities, and biologically
diverse forests that will be preserved for future generations,” said Kuroda. In many of Vietnam’s
largest cities, 30 percent to 40 percent of treated water is lost before it
reaches the end user. Moreover, four in every ten families have no connection
to a central water supply system. A $1 billion financial support facility from ADB will help
improve clean water access for 3 million families in Vietnam’s cities, including half a
million poor households who will receive their own piped water connection for
the first time. The assistance is part of a larger $2.8 billion investment
program. With Vietnam’s
forests coming under increasing pressure from rapid economic development and
climate change, habitat restoration is needed not only to protect the country’s
environmental treasures, but also to safeguard the livelihoods of indigenous
communities. A $30 million loan from ADB’s concessional Asian Development
Fund will enhance cross-border cooperation in protecting a contiguous stretch
of biodiversity-rich forest in Vietnam’s
Central Annamites, which spans the highlands of Quang Tri, Thua Thien-Hue city and Quang Nam
Provinces. This is part of a larger program that is also supporting the
preservation of key forestlands in Cambodia and Lao People’s
Democratic Republic. The assistance package for Vietnam includes approximately $8 million
to improve clean water and sanitation services and upgrade market roads in the
34 largely ethnic minority communes in the project area. “Sustainable economic development and environmental
preservation are intertwined,” said Mr. Kuroda. “In the long term, coupling
conservation and livelihood improvements will help ensure that Vietnam’s
forests and their biodiversity are managed well.” The third component of the assistance is a $350 million
loan, which is the first tranche of an overall $636 million ADB package. This
package is supporting a $1.6 billion project to construct a modern expressway
to the south of congested Ho Chi Minh
City.
With the city’s population expected to swell by more than 50
percent by 2025, new roads are needed to complement other modes of
transportation, including an ADB-supported metro rail system, to ensure the
efficient transportation of goods and people. The 57-kilometer expressway between Ben Luc and Long Thanh
will reduce traffic in the heart of Ho
Chi Minh City by allowing vehicles traveling from east
to west to bypass the city center. When the full expressway opens in 2017, it will reduce
east-west travel time by 80 percent and cut the number of traffic accidents by
10 percent. Source: VNA/Tuoi Tre | 
