The Japanese government will provide Vietnam with the biggest ever official development assistance (ODA) loan in 2009, exceeding the record 1.1 billion USD loan in 2007, the Japanese Ambassador told the Vietnam News Agency on Aug. 26.

Without giving a final concrete figure, Ambassador Mitsuo Sakaba said that several deals will be signed for ODA packages and the ODA loan will be provided in two phases: Japan will deposit the ODA into the State Bank of Vietnam and from there it will be distributed to local commercial banks.

According to Ambassador Sakaba, the two countries plan to sign a deal on a 650 million ODA loan next month.

In addition to a previous loan worth 800 million USD signed in April, by September the total amount of ODA provided by Japan will be much higher than the 2007 record.

The Japanese Ambassador explained that besides the usual ODA loan, the Japanese Government has decided to extend its ODA to Vietnam in the form of a stimulus package to aid economic recovery.

Japan’s ODA for Vietnam in 2009 will be primarily focused on the country’s major infrastructure projects such as bridges, roads and building airports, said Ambassador Sakaba, adding that some of it will also be used in other fields such as environmental protection and energy saving.

According to him, medium and small-scale enterprises, the main targets of the Vietnamese Government’s economic stimulus packages, will benefit from the additional ODA loan as they will help to develop supporting industries./.