Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem has expressed his wish that Luxembourg would continue to prioritise Vietnam for official development assistance (ODA) in the future as the country was making great efforts in socio-economic development.

Deputy PM Khiem made the statement when receiving Luxembourg Minister of Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs Marie Josée Jacobs in Hanoi on March 2.

He said he believed that the Luxembourg Minister’s visit would be an opportunity for both sides to affirm their resolve to bolster bilateral ties in numerous areas, especially development cooperation.

The Deputy PM spoke highly of the fine relations between the two countries, noting that Luxembourg now ranked fourth among EU investors in Vietnam , with 17 projects capitalised at nearly 1 billion USD.

Two-way trade increased rapidly in recent years, he said, expressing his hopes that Luxembourg ’s businesses would increase investment in metallurgy, transport, services, finance-banking and tourism.

Mentioning cooperation programmes that had been carried out in the northern provinces of Cao Bang and Bac Kan and the central province of Thua Thien - Hue , the Luxembourg Minister said that her country had given priority to personnel training and health care, and planned to expand to the finance-banking sector.

She conveyed her hope that the Luxembourg-invested vocational training school in Bac Kan province would help Vietnam train human resources for the northeastern region, contributing to hunger elimination and poverty reduction in the region.

Vietnam has recorded remarkable economic achievements and is stepping into a new period, she said, pledging that Luxembourg will continue its ODA for Vietnam and then increase cooperation mechanisms.

Luxembourg provided a total of 50 million EUR in non-refundable aid for Vietnam in the 2006-2010 period and will offer another 42 million EUR in 2011-2015./.