President of the Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) Shinichi Kitaoka attends a press conference in Hanoi on September 10 as part of his official visit to Vietnam (Photo:VNA)
HCM City (VNA) – Japan’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) cooperation in Vietnam had been successful, said President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Shinichi Kitaoka in a press conference in Hanoi on September 10 as part of his official visit to Vietnam.
Japan’s ODA cooperation in Vietnam was one of the most successful cooperations of Japan, thanks to the two countries’ efforts, he said.
The two countries often worked to find the best form and sector in which to work together.
JICA President Kitaoka said that Japan spent a large amount on Southeast Asia including Vietnam, Myanmar, Indonesia and Philippines. Of all those countries, Vietnam received the greatest amount of aid.
At present, Japan supported 60 percent of ODA to Vietnam.
Japan had supported Indonesia for 50 years, whereas it had supported Vietnam for only 20 years, but the quantity and quality of the support was in no way inferior, he said.
“The quality of Japan’s ODA support to Vietnam is very good,” said JICA Presient Kitaoka.
To uphold ODA cooperation effectively in the future, JICA President Kitaoka said that the two countries should define which projects need priority, and discuss the search for suitable methods.
Vietnam would use ODA successfully when the country balanced infrastructure and other sectors including education, health and insurance, he said.
Developed countries such as the US and UK supported African countries since the 1950s, but Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita in different countries in the Sahara Desert is only about 1,000 USD per year.
Whereas in Southeast Asia, the figure in Vietnam is more than 2,000 USD, and the figure in some other countries in the area is nearly 10,000 USD.
“Fairly, countries receiving support from Japan have more developed economies,” he said.
Via the visit, Kitaoka found out that Japan should continue to support Vietnam in developing infrastructure.
“Transport in Vietnam develops quickly compared with four or five years ago when I first came to the country, and most of the residents can use automobiles in the next 10 years,” he said.
Thus the country could develop the system of metro.
JICA President Kitaoka expressed his hope that the two countries would promote their cooperation, limit harms caused by climate change, reduce the rich-and-poor gap and join hands in training work forces.
JICA would work with the Vietnamese Government to discuss the priority order for different projects, he said.-VNA
