Deputy PM asks for harmonizing procedures to speed up ODA loans

The Deputy Prime Minister, who is also head of the National Steering Committee for ODA & concessional loans, on Wednesday had a working session with the group of six development banks, including the World Bank (WB), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the Export-Import Bank of Korea (KEXIM), the French Development Agency (AFD) and the German Development Bank (KfW).

The meeting aims to identify difficulties and obstacles to find solutions to promote disbursement progress of the Official Development Assistance (ODA) capital and discuss the ODA cooperation orientations between Viet Nam and donors in the coming time.

Addressing the meeting, Tran spoke highly of the six development banks for providing ODA and concessional loans for Viet Nam, contributing to the nation's socio-economic development achievements.

To implement an ODA project, Viet Nam must carry out two sets of procedures at the same time to meet the donor's requirements and to comply with Vietnamese law, he noted, calling on both sides to share and work together to harmonize procedures to shorten time for the preparation and implementation process of projects.

The Deputy Prime Minister urged local authorities to allocate enough corresponding capital for ODA projects while working closely with donors to handle obstacles and difficulties.

Meanwhile, donors should join hands with Vietnamese ministries and localities in building a specific list of projects consistent with Viet Nam's priorities and urgent needs for the coming period, noted Tran.

According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the total ODA capital and concessional loans Viet Nam has signed for the period 2021-2023 reaches about US$3.35 billion.

Ministries, branches and localities have implemented 656 projects, including 47 investment projects, 215 technical assistance projects and non-projects.

The total foreign-sourced capital in the 2021-2025 period decided by the National Assembly, reaches VND300,000 billion (US$12.1 billion).

In 2023, the National Assembly approved VND29 trillion (US$1.75 billion) in public investment funded by foreign capital sources for allocation. About 50.9 percent of the sum was disbursed. The public investment funding from foreign sources for 2024 is VND20 trillion (US$813 million), 1.42 percent of which had disbursed as of February 29./.