On the afternoon of August 23, at the headquarters of the Ministry of Finance, Minister Ho Duc Phoc met with Mr. Yamada Junichi - Vice President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the delegation to update the situation of cooperation between the Ministry of Finance and JICA in the past time, the orientation of cooperation between the Ministry of Finance and JICA in the coming time. Attending the meeting were Japanese Deputy Ambassador to Vietnam - Wantanabe Shige and representatives of leaders of some functional units under the Ministry of Finance.
Minister Ho Duc Phuc welcomes Vice President of Japan International Cooperation Agency
andcolleagues to visit and work with the Ministry of Finance of Vietnam
Welcoming Vice President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Mr. Yamada Junichi and colleagues to visit and work with the Ministry of Finance of Vietnam, Minister Ho Duc Phuc sincerely thanked and acknowledged and assessed appreciate the valuable support of the Government of Japan and JICA for accompanying and supporting Vietnam, thereby making an important contribution to promoting socio-economic development in Vietnam in recent years.
Minister Ho Duc Phuc emphasized that for many years, the Japanese Government in general and JICA in particular have always been important partners to support Vietnam by providing policy advice and financial resources.
Minister Ho Duc Phuc spoke at the meeting
The Minister also highly appreciated the role and important contributions of JICA in promoting and implementing ODA projects in Vietnam and expressed his wish that the Japanese side would continue to provide ODA to Vietnam, especially the new generation ODA has been agreed by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio.
The Minister said that, in order to recover and develop socio-economics after the Covid-19 pandemic, the Government of Vietnam has issued the Program for socio-economic recovery and development (Resolution No. 43/2021/ QH15) and currently the Government of Vietnam is drastically implementing solutions to achieve the set goals, ensuring stable and sustainable development. The Minister also wished to continue cooperating with JICA to successfully implement the important objectives and priority tasks of the Finance sector through policy advice, technical assistance and ODA funding.
Panoramic meeting
Also at the meeting, the two sides exchanged and frankly shared the causes and orientations to remove difficulties in order to promote a number of delayed ODA projects as well as the orientation of ODA cooperation between the two countries in the coming time, such as: North-South Expressway Construction Project (Ben Luc - Long Thanh section); Urban railway construction project Metro line No. 1 Ho Chi Minh City; Project on natural disaster prevention and climate change using earth observation satellite; O Mon III Thermal Power Plant Project...
Speaking at the meeting, JICA Vice President - Mr. Yamada Junichi thanked Minister Ho Duc Phuc for taking the time to receive the delegation and discuss the possibility of cooperation between JICA and the Ministry of Finance on the implementation of Resolution No. 43/2022/QH15 of the National Assembly of Vietnam.
Mr. Yamada Junichi also informed about the progress of ODA policy dialogue between Japan and Vietnam in order to promptly solve and remove difficulties and obstacles of ongoing ODA projects, and hoped that the Ministry of Finance would attend. These dialogues aim to promote the progress of ODA projects to be more effective.
JICA Vice President spoke at the meeting
JICA Vice President also shared information and orientation of cooperation between JICA and the Ministry of Finance on the Japanese Government's budget support for Vietnam's socio-economic recovery and development program. Mr. Yamada Junichi said, this is an emergency budget support loan for countries heavily affected by the Covid-19 epidemic with the most favorable conditions to help countries overcome difficulties and gradually economic recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic.
Sharing about this issue, Minister Ho Duc Phuc thanked the Japanese Government and requested the Department of Debt Management and External Finance to actively discuss with the Japanese Embassy in Vietnam about the loan proposal. The Government of Japan to support the Socio-Economic Development and Recovery Program, focusing on strategic infrastructure construction, transportation infrastructure, digital transformation, response to climate change , medical. The Minister also suggested the functional units of the Ministry of Finance and JICA continue to closely coordinate and promote the next procedures so that the two sides soon achieve concrete results.
At the end of the meeting, the Minister affirmed that the Ministry of Finance in its functions and tasks will focus on promoting the disbursement of Vietnam's public investment capital, including projects using Japanese ODA loans. The Minister hoped that in the coming time there would be closer coordination between the Ministry of Finance and JICA in order to better promote public investment projects thereby contributing to the sustainable development of Vietnam's economy.
HT