Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong (front, right) and ADB Country Director Andrew Jeffries (front, left) at the signing ceremony on November 24 (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong,authorised by the Government, and Country Director of the Asian DevelopmentBank (ADB) Andrew Jeffries on November 24 signed an agreement on the bank’semergency grant of 2.5 million USD to help Vietnam address natural disasters’consequences in the central region.
The grant is allocated from the Asia PacificDisaster Response Fund, which was designed to provide support to ADB’sdeveloping members affected by major natural disasters.
Cuong thanked ADB and Jeffries for assistingVietnam in responding to natural disasters, dealing with their aftermaths, and reconstructionefforts, especially in the central region.
However, he noted, the re-construction ofimportant infrastructure facilities and the settlement of natural disasters’consequences require stronger efforts by the Government, ministries, sectors,and the localities affected by storms and floods, as well as support fromdomestic and foreign organisations and individuals.
The Ministry of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment and ADB are working together to consider proposing the Governmentapprove an emergency loan for re-building infrastructure facilities, withpriority given to important works, so as to swiftly recover socio-economicactivities in disaster-hit central provinces, Cuong said.
For his part, Jeffries said after gettingapproval, that emergency loan from ADB will be used as part of the Government’sbudget to help the affected localities.
ADB hopes that the Vietnamese Government willissue the approval soon so that a loan agreement can be signed in March 2021,he added./.
VNA
