The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) will provide 33 million USD in preferential loans for Vietnam’s sustainable agriculture development, especially climate change response and credit for poor farmers.

An agreement to this effect was signed by Vietnam’s Ambassador to Italy and Permanent Representative to IFAD Nguyen Hoang Long and IFAD President Kanayo F. Nwanze in Rome on November 27.

Speaking at the event, Nwanze hailed Vietnam as a role model for its success in reducing poverty by accelerating the development of its agriculture sector, adding that the loan is to help Vietnamese farmers become more resilient to crises, including climate change.

Ambassador Long expressed hope that IFAD and Vietnam will strengthen their partnership in the future, declaring that Vietnam will make the most of all the international assistance that it receives.

In an interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency, the ambassador revealed that next month Vietnam will negotiate with IFAD on a 14 million USD loan for climate change adaptation in the Mekong Delta provinces of Ben Tre and Tra Vinh.

He said IFAD highly values Vietnam’s efforts in effectively using loans over the past 20 years, especially in poor and mountainous regions.

The IFAD’s loan commitments to Vietnam manifest its trust in the country’s poverty reduction cause, Long concluded.

The United Nation’s IFAD groups 165 member countries, working primarily to mobilise capital from advanced nations to help low-income earners in developing countries with production and nutrition supply.

IFAD has financed Vietnam since 1991 with low-interest loans of 40-50 years that have been channelled to farmers, fishermen, disadvantaged women and ethnic communities.-VNA