Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang (R) hosts JICA Executive Senior Vice President Yamada Junichi in Hanoi on March 26 (Photo: VNA)Welcoming the JICA official to Vietnam to attend the launch of the first phase of the Vietnam-Japan joint initiative in the new era,Deputy PM Quang briefed the guest on Vietnam’s national budget managementmechanisms as well as the country’s recent efforts to remove difficulties andobstacles to speed up the progress of projects using Japanese ODA.
For his part, Yamada said that recently, Japan's ODAdisbursement rate has increased significantly, with the amount of slowdisbursement at about 1.8 billion JPY (11.86 million USD), much lower than thatin previous years thanks to the drastic direction of the Vietnamese Government.
The JICA Executive Senior Vice President affirmed that theagency is ready to discuss with Vietnam about the implementation of 11infrastructure development projects in localities, including the considerationof the possibility for these projects to be bid domestically instead ofinternationally to shorten investment preparation time.
He suggested that Vietnam build a separate legal frameworkfor additional loans outside the medium-term budget plan from JICA as well asother donors such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.
Lauding JICA’s recommendations, Deputy PM Quang proposedthat the two sides work together on the suitable interest rates and eachspecific project.
The two sides concurred to coordinate closely toremove difficulties and obstacles facing each project,including those related to tax rates for Japanese contractors implementing ODAprojects, thus speeding up the progress of delayed projects, especially the Cho Ray Hospital No.2 and the Vietnam-JapanUniversity.
Japan is currently Vietnam's largest ODA provider. Since 1992,Japan has provided Vietnam with over 2,700 billion JPY in ODA loans, along withnearly 100 billion JPY in non-refundable aid and nearly 180 billion JPY intechnical assistance. Japan's ODA accounts for over 30% of bilateraldevelopment aid that Vietnam has received. In 2023, Japan's total ODA capitalfor Vietnam reached more than 100 billion JPY, the highest level since 2017./.
VNA
