Deputy PM lauds USAID's contributions to socio-economic development

At a reception for Michael Greene, USAID Director, in Hanoi on December 7, the Deputy PM highlighted the agency's humanitarian aid to Vietnamese Agent Orange (AO)/dioxin victims and dioxin remediation in the country, along with its projects on HIV/AIDS prevention, climate change response and settlement of natural disaster and post-war consequences.

Michael Greene said the USAID has cooperated with Vietnam for many years, through projects that provide technical support in the fields of national management and economic development.

The agency is designing two projects worth more than US$50 million in non-refundable aid, aiming to help Vietnam implement a programme on trade facilitation and supporting Vietnamese small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to participate in the global supply chain, he noted.

In this regard, Deputy PM Hue stressed the Vietnamese Government's consistent policy of strongly improving the domestic business environment, which has jumped 23 places over the past two years.

He urged experts and officials of the USAID to team up with officials of the Vietnamese Ministry of Finance to identify contents of the USAID-funded project.

The Vietnamese Government also wishes to promote the private economic sector, connect SMEs together as well as Vietnamese firms with their foreign counterparts, Hue said.

He said the Ministry of Planning and Investment will be assigned to develop a framework for the aforementioned project.

The projects selected by the USAID are suitable with Vietnam's current needs, Hue said, adding that the Vietnamese Government welcomes and will assign relevant ministries and agencies to implement the project effectively.

(Source: NDO)