Commitment to accelerate disbursements for projects funded by AFD

	ADB Loan singed to improve connectivity in Northwestern mountain provinces
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	Priority to using ODA capital to attract private investment

The meeting. Photo: T.L

At the meeting, Jean-Pierre Marcelli said as a French state organization and financial institution, AFD is one of the tools of the French Government to provide official development assistance. AFD has been present in Vietnam since 1994 and Vietnam is one of the leading countries funded by AFD, with a total committed ODA of about 1.9 billion EUR in the past 25 years for 84 projects.

Jean-Pierre Marcelli said that in the future AFD will have more units with members who are senior French consultants to support Vietnam.

Deputy Minister of Finance Tran Xuan Ha said that the amount of 1.9 billion EUR contributed to the socio-economic development in Vietnam byenhancing resiliencetonatural disastersand climate change, aiding vocational training and developing high quality human resources. This is consistent with Vietnam's development strategy.

“AFD's support is quite diverse. There is direct support to Vietnam, there are loans to each project and there are loans for businesses guaranteed by the Government ”- Ha said.

Ha also expectedthe two sides will continue to strengthen cooperation in the future. However, Vietnam has now become a middle-income country, so the orientation of capital mobilization as well as capital management has changed. Since the effective date of the Law on Public Debt Management from July 2018, the National Assembly assigned the Ministry of Finance to preside overthe negotiation of framework agreements as well as specific loan agreements of international organizations and sponsors. The National Assembly also provides a strict management framework on public debt limits and debt management tools.

“Vietnam has a policy of borrowing for development investment and not borrowing for recurrent expenditures. Development investmentwill focus on infrastructure (especially transport infrastructure) and energy development, particularly renewable energy. We also pay attention to the waste treatment system”- said Ha.

Ha proposed the two sides continue to coordinate and evaluate the implemented projects as well as speed up disbursements and simultaneously coordinate to select priority projects for 2019-2020.

The Executive Director of AFD appreciated Ha’s comments and confirmed that AFD's top priority is disbursements and AFD is willing to work with the Ministry of Finance to speed up disbursements.