Donors’ confidence

International donors have shown their support with a record pledge following last week’s Consultative Group meeting

The closing session of Consultative Group (CG) Meeting last week in Hanoi saw the international donors’ commitment for 2007 rise by $700 million in financial assistance over 2006. Most of the sum will be earmarked to develop Vietnam’s poor infrastructure and increase social services to improve people’s living standards.
Typical infrastructure projects attracting international aid in 2007 include the north-south express railway system, inner road systems in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, an underground system for Ho Chi Minh City, and the Hanoi-Lao Cai railway project.
World Bank country director Klaus Rohland said such increased pledges were interpreted in the international community as belief in the leadership of Vietnamese government and future fast economic growth of the nation.
“International donors have never lost confidence of Vietnam’s growth. Our increasing pledges for Vietnam over the years are supportive to government’s continual efforts to bring Vietnam from a low-income into a middle-income nation in 2010 and into an industrialised nation in 2020,” he said.
The WB, chief organiser of the CG Meeting, Japan and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) top the list of pledges with almost 70 per cent of the total combined. ADB made an impressive leap with the leading pledge of $1.14 billion for the coming year, double last year’s offer.
“Vietnam enters a new stage of development, in which we see Vietnam has to invest in many areas and hope [it] will accelerate the speed of development,” said Ayumi Konishi, ADB country director. “Infrastructure development, including the subway system project in Ho Chi Minh City, is in our highlight agenda in support of Vietnam’s five -year socio-economic development plan towards 2010,” he said.
Implementation of Vietnam’s five-year socio-economic development plan (SEDP) to 2010 was the major focus for international donors at the CG meeting this year, and other important issues overshadowing the agenda include the country’s admission to the WTO and the increased effectiveness and efficiency of its use of overseas aid.
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung stressed in a 45-minute speech that Vietnam was set to achieve all of the SEDP’s targets, which are constructed on three pillars of stable economic growth, equitable society and sustainable environment, by deploying domestic and foreign resources. He also told the group that the government had aimed to attain 8-8.5 per cent annual economic growth from 2006 to 2010.
“Our drastic measures have been taken to make this target into a reality, including continual economic reform, facilitation for establishment of new enterprises, development of human resources and progress in anti-corruption practices,” he said.
Presenters also stressed that Vietnam’s economy in the first year of the SEDP grew 8.2 per cent with GDP per capita of $720, export turnover $40 billion, foreign direct investment $9.5 billion and disbursed international aid $1.8 billion.




No. 792/December 18-24, 2006