Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh on June 30 held a working session with five localities in the Mekong Delta to tackle difficulties and obstacles in launching projects from the Official Development Assistance (ODA) and preferential loans.

Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh holds a working session with five localities
in the Mekong Delta to tackle difficulties and obstacles in launching projects from
the Official Development Assistance (ODA) and preferential loans, Can tho City,
June 30, 2020 - Photo: VGP

Participants in the meeting included leaders and representatives of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Transport and leaders from Can Tho City, the provinces of Bac Lieu, Vinh Long, Ben Tre and Long An. 

The Deputy PM stressed the Government’s viewpoint on accelerating the disbursement of public investment capital, including the ODA, regarding it as one of the crucial solutions to recovering and enhancing socio-economic development amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

During the 2016-2020 period, as much as VND39,000billion has been poured in 100 projects in the Mekong Delta. 

These five localities mentioned above have attracted 23 ODA projects, worth US$641 million, making one third of the total ODA capital in the region. However, in the first half of 2020, the disbursement of ODA capital in these five localities was low.   

Deputy PM Minh asked these localities to mobilize all resources for site clearance and comply with the principles of not using ODA capital for site clearance. 

Remarkably, he highlighted that Viet Nam was preparing for IDA graduation (i.e. stop borrowing from IDA) (from July 1, 2017) and switch to IBRD, a less concessional financing resource for developing countries at middle income level by 2021, adding that, it is vital to absorb all these preferential loans.