Representatives of international donors have appreciated Vietnam’seffective use of official development assistance (ODA), and pledged tocontinue to cooperate with and support the country in its futuredevelopment.
They made the commitment at ameeting to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the development cooperationbetween Vietnam and donors in Hanoi on October 17.
World Bank Country Director in Vietnam Victoria Kwakwa said thatVietnam has recorded gigantic development achievements over the pasttwo decades.
From one of the poorest nations in theworld with a per capita income of about 100 USD per year and low socialdevelopment indexes in 1993, Vietnam has now become an emergingmiddle-income country with a gross domestic product (GDP) of nearly 154billion USD and per capita income of 1,700 USD, she said.
The rate of poor households decreased from 58 percent in 1993 to 10percent in 2012, with more than 30 million people escaping from poverty,she added.
The country’s social welfare indexes arenow higher than those of countries with the same income and even somehigher-income countries, she said, citing better education for themajority of locals.
Victoria Kwakwa noted thatVietnam has fulfilled five out of eight Millennium Development Goals(MDGs) and is on the way to accomplish the two others by 2015. In 2010,the country ranked sixth in the globe on MDGs fulfilment.
The WB representative attributed Vietnam’s success to the visionand determination of the Government as well as the diligence of thelocal people.
According to Pratibha Mehta, UNResident Coordinator in Vietnam, the country’s progress has beenrecognised globally and serves as an encouragement for other nations.
She, however, noted that despite achievements,Vietnam still faces a lot of challenges ahead and needs continued andstrong support from international development partners.
She also spoke highly of the Vietnamese Government’s efforts to definethese challenges and include solutions to them in the country’ssocio-economic development plans.
The UN willcontinue to coordinate with relevant parties in researching aid sourcesin order to help the country improve public financial management and usethe capital more effectively, she stressed.
J.A.Nugent, head of the Asian Development Bank’s Southeast Asia Department,affirmed that Vietnam ’s 20-year achievements are admirable and hisbank is proud of being a part of this successful development story.
As global integration brings both opportunities and risks, Vietnamshould take careful management steps and strengthen reforms, he said,adding that ADB will continue to be a reliable partner of the country inthe next two decades.
As the largest ODA providerfor Vietnam with over 20 billion USD, Japan highly values theVietnamese Government’s effective use of this capital, said JapaneseAmbassador to Vietnam Hiroshi Fukada.
Japanpledges to continue to strongly support Vietnam in its institutionalbuilding, legal reform and economic restructuring efforts, he stressed.
Ambassador of the Republic of Korea (RoK) toVietnam Jun Daejoo affirmed that the international community seesVietnam as one of the spectacular successes.
Looking towards another 20 years, the RoK will continue to back Vietnam’s efforts to become an industrialised country, he said, adding thathis country is willing to share development experience with Vietnam .
In October 1993, a round-table conference on ODAfor Vietnam was held in Paris, France, marking the officialresumption of development cooperation between Vietnam andinternational donors.
ODA received by Vietnamfrom 1993 to 2012 amounted to 80 billion USD, according to the Ministryof Planning and Investment.-VNA