Quang Trung bridge crossing Cần Thơ River in the Mekong Delta's Cần Thơ City which was built with ODA capital from the World Bank, was put into operation last December. — VNA/VNS Photo

The Prime Minister has assigned the Ministry of Planning and Investment to draft strategies and policies on development cooperation with foreign donors in order to improve the efficiency of using official development assistance (ODA) and concessional loans.

The ministry is also tasked with being in charge of clarifying orientations for attracting, managing and using ODA and concessional loans from foreign donors; and for drafting and submitting for promulgation or promulgating legal documents on management according to its competence.

It needs to identify demand for the ODA and loans serving investment in development, and propose related programmes for using them, among other tasks.

In necessary cases, the ministry can set up an inter-sector working delegation to work with managers of foreign-invested projects to promptly tackle obstacles.

The Government’s Decree 114/2021/ND-CP on the usage of the ODA and loans from foreign donors took effect on December 16, replacing Decree 56/2020/ND-CP issued on May 25 last year.

The new decree stipulated that non-refundable ODA capital is prioritised to implement programmes and projects on socio-economic infrastructure development; strengthen capacity; support the building of policies, institutions and reforms; natural disaster risk prevention, disaster relief, and disease prevention; among others. — VNS