Germany has pledged to provide €50 million (US$58.8 million) in official development assistance (ODA) loans and another € 63.5 million (US$ 74.6 million) in non-refundable ODA for 14 technical assistance and investment projects in Viet Nam in 2021, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI).

The commitment was made during a recent governmental-level meeting on the Viet Nam - Germany development cooperation in 2021 held via videoconference between Director of the MPI's Foreign Economic Relations Department Pham Hoang Mai and Director for Asia at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development Gisela Hammerschmidt.

Especially, out of the 14 technical assistance projects, the one on building a center for epidemic forecasting and management proposed by the Health Ministry as an emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic will receive €15 million EUR (US$ 17.6 million) in non-refundable ODA.

The two sides agreed three fields of ODA cooperation including energy, vocational training and environment.

The German Government regards Viet Nam as a “global partner” in development cooperation under the new BMZ 2030 strategy.

Germany also agreed to boost cooperation in health care to support Viet Nam in response to COVID-19 pandemic.

The European country is also among the biggest ODA providers for Viet Nam. It has provided more than US$2 billion for ODA projects in Viet Nam since 1990 through technical and financial cooperation, with technical cooperation projects implemented in the form of non-refundable aid.