|
Vietnam and ADB sign agreements for 2 projects
The Government of Vietnam and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed agreements for a loan to improve health care services in eight provinces in the south central coast region, and a technical assistance grant to help boost Viet Nam’s higher education sector development on December 16, 2008. The agreements were signed at the head office of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) in Hanoi by SBV Governor Nguyen Van Giau and Mr. Ayumi Konishi, ADB’s Country Director for Vietnam.
The “Health Care in the South Central Coast Region Project” is worth in total US$ 80 million, of which US$ 72 million is financed by ADB from its Special Fund and US$ 8 million is contributed by the Government of Vietnam. This Project will last for 5 years (2009-2013), focusing on upgrading 20 hospitals and five district preventive medical centers equipped with new facilities for water, sanitation, and medical waste management systems. Support will be given to build a training school for nurses and paramedics, village health workers, and for the improvements in basic health care for 423 remote communes. This Project will help improve the health system and the health status of the population, in particular the poor, women and children, and ethnic groups in the Southern Central Coast Region.
The “Higher Education Sector Development Project” will provide a US$ 1 million technical assistance grant from the ADB’s Japan Special Fund to finance a feasibility study that will lay a ground for an ADB loan to build two model research universities with a focus on science and technology in the cities of Ha Noi and Da Nang. The Government of Viet Nam will provide additional US$200,000. The project will also help design a policy and regulatory framework for future research universities, in line with the Government’s aim of making higher education more innovative, internationally competitive, and relevant to labor market needs.
Speaking on this occasion, Governor Nguyen van Giau expressed his sincere appreciation to the valuable support that ADB and the Government of Japan have extended to Vietnam to implement priority sectors in the development strategy toward 2020, including poverty reduction, economic development and human resources.
sbv
|
