The Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Mitsuo Sakaba announced on December 3 a new record high of Japanese aid commitment to Vietnam for the 2009 fiscal year (from April 2009 to March 2010) of 1.6 billion USD.

The announcement came as representatives of international donors, foreign missions and government officials gathered for Vietnam ’s Consultative Group Meeting – the biannual talks where official development assistance (ODA) is announced.

The Japanese aid will be used to support national infrastructure projects in Vietnam , including the expansion of Noi Bai international airport, the Noi Bai-Nhat Tan Highway and the Hoa Lac High-tech Park , revealed the Japanese Ambassador.

This is a record commitment for the Japanese government. At the 2007 donors meeting, Japan pledged 1.1 billion USD in aid for Vietnam but refused to provide any commitments to ODA at the 2008 meeting following a corruption case where the Japanese company Pacific Consultant International (PCI) was accused of bribing senior Vietnamese officials to win bids for contracts.

Ambassador Sakaba said that Japan has decided to “resume as normal” the procedures for providing aid to Vietnam because after the PCI case, both countries signed an agreement on a “detailed system of checking bidding procedures” this February.

“So far we are satisfied with this new transparent system for allocating Japanese ODA,” Sakaba told the press.

Meanwhile, the Head of the European Commission delegation to Vietnam, Ambassador Sean Doyle said that in terms of implementing projects, “some of the problems remain, but Vietnam has worked very well on its economy.”

“The aid is proceeding very well and we are very happy with the way the Vietnamese government is using it,” he told the Vietnam News Agency. The EC official also revealed that in general, donors are very supportive of Vietnam because they “admire” what has been done and “respect” the government’s ambition to move forward after “coming out of the recession in very good shape.”

“And when I say that, I think it is true of all the donors assembled here today,” he confirmed.

The greatest concern for the European Union now, he said, is to help Vietnam develop faster, especially increasing the added value of its exports and its domestic consumption. Moreover, the EU will continue to help Vietnam access European markets and transfer more European technology to Vietnam , especially in areas concerning climate change.

The Country Director of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Vietnam , Ayumi Konishi, later told the meeting that the bank has approved assistance of over 2 billion USD this year. The money will be used to develop renewable and clean energies and fund a scheme to help local private enterprises.

At the 2008 meeting, donors committed a total 5.014 billion USD in ODA to Vietnam , of which the ADB pledged 1.56 billion USD and the EU contributed over 893 million USD./.