Vietnam has signed agreements worth more than 1.78 billion USD in official development assistance (ODA) with international donors in the first half of the year, a year-on-year rise of 15.9 percent.

Of the committed ODA, 1.7 billion USD was in the form of preferential credits and the remainder was non-refundable aid.

Japan is Vietnam ’s biggest donor, contributing 852 million USD, followed by the Asia Development Bank (ADB), 482 million USD, and the World Bank, 265 million USD.

The country also disbursed 1.27 billion USD in ODA in the first six months of 2009, an increase of 9 percent year on year, consisting of more than 1.16 billion USD in preferential loans and the remainder in non-refundable aid.

The total ODA committed by donors between 1993 and 2008 reached 42.4 billion USD.

Two sectors - transport and communications, and post and telecommunications - are attracting the largest share of ODA capital. They are followed by energy and industry, agriculture and rural development (in combination with hunger eradication and poverty reduction), health care and education, science and technology, and the environment.

Vietnam has 28 bilateral and 23 multilateral donors registered and approved for permanent Official Development Assistance (ODA) programmes./.