The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) – the political risk insurance and credit enhancement arm of the World Bank group - has decided to support the rehabilitation and expansion of a section of National Highway 20, a life-line transport road in Vietnam.

Accordingly, MIGA is providing non-honoring of sovereign financial obligations cover of 500 million USD to the project’s lenders for a period of 15 years.

National Highway 20 is the main route connecting Ho Chi Minh City , the political and economic centre in the south of Vietnam , with the Central Highlands. The MIGA-insured loan funds the rehabilitation of a severely downgraded section of the road, a source of significant transportation bottlenecks and accidents.

MIGA-supported project will help reduce travel time and improve safety on the road, said Victoria Kwakwa, World Bank Country Director for Vietnam .

Implemented by the Vietnamese Government, the project will follow MIGA's environmental and social sustainability policies.

According to Michel Wormser, MIGA Vice President and Chief Operating Officer , standards published by MIGA aim to ensure that the environmental and social risks of the project are taken into account and mitigated

Established in 1998 as a member organisation of the WB group, the agency works to promote foreign direct investment in developing countries to support economic growth, reduce poverty and improve people’s live.-VNA