Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh (L) and Stefano Manservisi, the EC’s Director General for International Cooperation and Development, at a press conference on February 27. (Source: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The European Commission (EC) andthe Vietnam Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) on February 27 publicised acomponent on the EU’s technical assistance to Vietnam’s energy sector.
The technical assistance is to serve the implementation of a108 million EUR (133 million USD) programme under which the EU will help Vietnam’srural areas access sustainable energy.
The programme aims to contribute to building a moresustainable energy sector in Vietnam by promoting the efficiency of clean andrenewable energy sources among the public.
The component, co-sponsored by the EU and the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, will be carried out by the German DevelopmentCooperation Agency (GIZ) in conjunction with the MoIT.
According to Stefano Manservisi, the EC’s Director Generalfor International Cooperation and Development, the programme is expected tohelp the Vietnamese Government fulfil the target of providing electricity for1.2 million rural households from 2013-2020, while enhancing State managementin the energy sector to facilitate the country’s transition towards a moresustainable energy sector.
MoIT Minister Tran Tuan Anh said the rapid and sustainabledevelopment of the energy sector has helped Vietnam maintain socio-economicgrowth at a high pace, noting that Vietnam needs to invest about 5-7 billionUSD each year in the energy sector.
He stressed that the national target programme on providingelectricity for rural, mountainous and island areas during 2016-2020 needsabout 1.2 billion EUR. Therefore, the Vietnamese Government welcomes thesupport of the EU in this field.
Once the programme is completed, about 750 villages withabout 60,000 households, an island district and two island communes areexpected to access electricity. -VNA
VNA
