The Government of the Republic of Korea (RoK) has agreed to provide a 19 million USD loan in official development aid (ODA) for Vietnam to implement a health project.

An agreement on the provision was signed between Vietnam’s Ministry of Finance and the RoK’s Export-Import Bank on June 9 in Hanoi, which is part of a 1.2 billion USD framework agreement on financial assistance for Vietnam in the 2012-2015 period inked previously between the two governments.

Under the agreement, the loan, with an interest rate of 0.15 percent per year and a 10-year grace period, will be used to better medical and health care devices in the National Ear-Nose-Throat Hospital, thus helping improve the quality of treatment and disease prevention.

In the period of 2008-2011, the RoK side also lent Vietnam 1 billion USD to perform several infrastructure projects, such as Vam Cong Bridge in the Mekong Delta region, Vinh Thinh Bridge in the north, a general hospital in central Thua Thien Hue province and the Thien Tan water supply project in southern Dong Nai province.

According to Nguyen Thanh Do, Director of the Finance Ministry’s Department of Debt Management and External Finance, many projects using RoK loans were completed and put into operation, contributing effectively to Vietnam’s socio-economic development.-VNA