The Vietnamese Government will always acknowledge and effectively manage official development assistance (ODA) from the international community, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has said.

Addressing a meeting to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the cooperative development relationship between Vietnam and donors in Hanoi on October 17, the PM affirmed that Vietnam will not break the donors’ trust.

The inflow of capital has significantly contributed to Vietnam’s socio-economic achievements, especially in the realms of macroeconomic balance, infrastructure, healthcare, education and training, agricultural development and poverty reduction, environmental protection and climate change response, he said.

The Government leader added that the production capacity and competitive edge of several branches have been improved thanks to ODA projects and programmes that have created favourable conditions and a good environment to facilitate trade, investment and development in private economic sector, and increase international economic integration.

Vietnam is implementing a socio-economic development strategy for the 2011-2020 period, focusing on institutional reform, comprehensive infrastructure development and human resources development in parallel with a sustainable and rapid growth model and economic restructuring.

To realise the strategy, the Vietnamese Government has mobilised all internal resources, called on the participation of both public and private sectors while taking an active part in international integration in order to extract external support, PM Dung said.

He said ODA plays an important role, helping Vietnam materialise its development priorities and strategic breakthroughs, including the national target programmes, infrastructure development projects, policymaking and institutional development, capacity enhancement, healthcare, environmental protection, climate change response and green growth.

According to a report released at the meeting, it is the donors’ support for the Vietnamese Government’s socio-economic development policy that has helped improve confidence and encourage foreign businesses and investors to operate in Vietnam .

Foreign direct investment (FDI) contributed two percent to Vietnam ’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 1992. The figure grew rapidly to 18.97 percent last year, the report said.

At the meeting, representatives from the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and donors highly valued Vietnam ’s socio-economic performance and the level of poverty reduction over the past two decades, as well as the fruitful relationship between the Vietnamese Government and donors.

Delegates said that although Vietnam has become a middle-income country, it is at the lowest point in the group and is facing a spate of difficulties and challenges.

They expressed their belief that the relationship between Vietnam and international donors will continue to develop quickly in the coming time.

The event saw the participation of over 300 representatives of ministries, branches, localities and international organisations, and ambassadors.-VNA