Vietnam and Japan signed in Hanoi on March 20 an exchange of notes on the provision of loans for three programmes and projects.

Deputy Minister of Finance Tran Quoc Phuong (left) and Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Ito Naoki sign the exchange of notes on behalf of the governments of the two countries.

Deputy Minister of Finance Tran Quoc Phuong, representing the Vietnamese Government, and Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Ito Naoki, on behalf of the Japanese Government, signed the document.

Accordingly, the funding, totaling approximately 90 billion JPY (around 609 million USD), will be allocated to three key projects, namely budget support for green growth and climate adaptation, disaster-resilient rural development, and climate-adaptive infrastructure to support production in northern mountainous regions, particularly for ethnic minority communities.

Phuong said the agreements reaffirm that Japan remains Vietnam’s largest bilateral donor and demonstrate the Japanese Government’s strong interest in strengthening the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with Vietnam.

This is also a step concretising high-level commitments by the two countries’ leaders to promote a new-generation official development assistance (ODA) cooperation model focusing on priority areas such as green transition and climate change adaptation.

The Japan-funded programmes and projects are of significant importance, contributing positively to Vietnam’s socio-economic development, particularly by improving essential infrastructure to enhance climate resilience in the northern midland and mountainous provinces, which remain among the country’s most disadvantaged areas.

Following the success of a previous loan supporting post-pandemic socio-economic recovery, the 50-billion-JPY policy loan under the general budget support framework for green growth and climate change adaptation once again demonstrates the Japanese Government’s trust in Vietnam’s ability to implement policy commitments and manage the state budget flexibly and effectively.

Ambassador Ito Naoki affirmed that Japan supports Vietnam’s reform orientation towards a new era.

He expressed his hope that Japan’s ODA will be utilised in areas such as innovation, semiconductors, the green transition, and digital transformation, thereby helping Vietnam achieve its economic growth targets for 2026–2030.

The three newly signed ODA projects are expected to serve as a solid starting point for advancing the new-generation ODA model between the two countries, he added.

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The ambassador expressed his delight at the growing strength of the Vietnamese community in Japan and its active contributions to Vietnam’s development as well as to the bilateral ties. Currently, the Vietnamese community in Japan remains the second-largest of its kind in the world, with around 700,000 people and an average annual increase of 50,000–60,000.

 

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