The UK Department for International Development (DFID) on September 30 announced two financial packages worth 59.5 million USD (37 million GBP) for poverty alleviation and education in Vietnam .

The first package of 17 million GBP aims to improve the quality of primary education, particularly for children from disadvantaged groups, through the School Education Quality Assurance Programme that supports full-day schooling.

Meanwhile, the remaining 20 million GBP will be transferred directly to the Government’s budget to back up the Poverty Reduction Support Credit programme (PRSC).

The aid was announced after a fact-finding trip to the northern mountaious province of Lao Cai by Sue Wardell, DFID Regional Director in charge of North East Asia . She is on a working visit to Vietnam to see poverty reduction in action, discuss the future development partnership between the UK and Vietnam , and follow up on United Nations reform in Vietnam .

DFID was one the first development partners to have provided budget support through the PRSC since 2001.

In 2006, it approved an allocation of 100 million GBP over five years for the PRSC, with an annual amount of 20 million USD./.