Vietnam and Japan discussed a raft of anti-corruption measures at a meeting in Hanoi on June 24, in their second dialogue since Japan suspended part of its official assistance development (ODA) to Vietnam earlier this month following a graft scandal involving their transport officials.

The case was brought to light last August after the president of the Tokyo-based Japan Transportation Consultants Inc confessed to paying kickbacks to foreign civil servants, including a senior official of the Vietnam Railways Corporation, in return for orders it received for ODA projects.

Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung made it clear that the Vietnamese government is determined to take steps to prevent any recurrence.

Minister-Counsellor of the Japanese Embassy in Vietnam Hideo Suzuki hailed Vietnam’s drastic acts against graft over the past time, expressing his hope that both sides will reach consensus on dealing with the case soon.

Both officials agreed to put counter-corruption initiatives in place in the coming time and report the outcomes of their meeting to the governments.

Japan is now Vietnam’s second largest ODA donor with a commitment of over 20 billion USD. Last year, it disbursed 1.7 billion USD in loans to Vietnam, followed by the World Bank and the Asia Development Bank./.