Minister Dinh Tien Dung meets JICA President

	Ministry of Finance expects to closely cooperate with JICA
	JICA official: Payment delay – barrier to ODA-funded projects
	Signing of Japanese ODA Loan Agreement with Vietnam to improve public sanitation

The meeting between Minister Dinh Tien Dung and JICA President Shinichi Kitaoka.

At the meeting, Minister Dinh Tien Dung said that Vietnam’s macroeconomic situation in the past 8 months was good and met the Government's objectives.

On August 10th, 2018, the Credit Rating Agency Moody's increased Vietnam's rating one place from B1 to Ba3, with stable outlook due to (i) good growth potential, (ii) positive changes in public debt structure towards reducing foreign debts and extending the Government bonds term and (iii) the improved banking system. This was a good signal.

The Minister also said that the cooperation between Vietnam and Japan in the field of ODA loans was developing well. Vietnam was one of the three largest borrowers of Japan (along with India, Indonesia). Japan was currently the largest partner in providing ODA loans to Vietnam. This was one of the most important capital sources for Vietnam to develop infrastructure, mainly focusing on large-scale projects in the fields of transportation and energy.

With the advantages of great value and long-term loans, the Japanese Government's loans focus on large-scale infrastructure projects in the fields of energy, transportation and urban renewal.

So far, many projects have been finished, making great contributions to Vietnam’s socio-economic development such as Pha Lai and Phu My Thermal Power Plants, Bai Chay bridge, Nhat Tan bridge, National Highway 10,National Highway 18, Noi Bai Airport Terminal T2, Ho Chi Minh City East-West Highway., etc. Recently, Japanese government loans have also funded many education and health projects such as Cho Ray Hospital and the upgrading of Can Tho University., etc.

According to the Minister, the successful an effective cooperation between the two countries in recent years has received great contributions from JICA and the Embassy of Japan in Vietnam, in particular from President Shinichi Kitaoka and Ambassador Umeda Kunio.

JICA President commented that currently, Vietnam was showing sustainable growth. Japan highly appreciated the efforts.

According to Mr. Shinichi Kitaoka, in the coming time, Vietnam needs to pay attention to three pillars which are improving infrastructure, developing value added industries, enhancing competitiveness; controlling well issues related to environment and climate change, supporting weak people in societyand focusing on leadership training and security at sea.

In terms of the Japanese side, especially JICA, JICA is looking forward to further cooperating with the Ministry of Finance and Vietnam’s Government to better strengthen these three pillars and support Vietnam’s economy for sustainable development.

Minister Dinh Tien Dung also appreciated the three pillars proposed by JICA President and said that they are appropriate orientations for the development of Vietnam in the future.

As a result, the Ministry of Finance wished that Japan would continue to provide ODA support to Vietnam to help it develop sustainably, combat climate change, ensure social equity and improve the quality of human resources.

Government leader greatly values Japan’s ODA for Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has highly appreciated the individual role of the President of the Japan ...

At the meeting, the two sides exchanged and agreed on some issues related to corporate income tax of Japan's non-refundable aid projects for Vietnam and some issues arising in the negotiation of new projects.