Addressing a press conference on October 6 in Hanoi, Shimizu Akira, Chief Representative of JICA in Vietnam, said that in accordance with the Vietnamese Government’s instructions to maintain the construction of public works amid the pandemic, JICA has continued to carry out Japanese ODA projects even during the social distancing period and these have helped sustain employment for Vietnamese engineers.
There are also about 2,000 workers involved in the project on building HCM City’s urban railway line.
Newly-signed loan projects are in decline, as is the disbursement rate of ODA capital, but the early disbursement of public investment could be a catalyst that has contributed to economic recovery and development in Vietnam, he noted.
The Vietnamese Government and Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc have paid significant attention to and adopted specific plans to promote the disbursement of public investment capital, he said, expressing his hope that this effort would help JICA accelerate the progress of projects in Vietnam.
JICA has provided financial support worth JPY77.4 billion (over US$733 million) in loan projects and technical cooperation projects for Vietnam’s healthcare sector.
In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, it will promote medical cooperation with Vietnam on the basis of putting experience collected in the country to use, he said.
Commenting on global supply chain shifts, Akira said the trend gives Vietnam new opportunities but the country needs to improve human resources quality and develop high-quality infrastructure to attract foreign investment.
Regarding support in attracting foreign investment, JICA is implementing a technical cooperation project to strengthen Vietnam’s capacity for improving equity and transparency in its stock market and promoting transparent information disclosure in corporate financial accounting, towards the application of international financial reporting standards.
In the time to come, he affirmed, JICA will continue to support Vietnam in developing infrastructure and will enhance its technical cooperation with the country, contributing to Vietnam’s development.
