Australia commits to Vietnam's socio-economic growth agenda

Australia will continue to provide aid to Vietnam for the next five years to support the country’s long-term development needs.

The Australia-Vietnam High-Level Consultations on Development Cooperation were held in Hanoi today to discuss the priorities of Australia’s aid to Vietnam from 2015-2020.

Accordingly, Australia confirmed it will provide Vietnam with an estimated total of around AUD 90 million in ODA, of which around AUD60 million will be direct bilateral aid during the financial year 2015-2016.

“We strongly welcome Australia’s continued support to the socio-economic development of Vietnam,’ said Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung, Head of the Vietnamese delegation and co-chair of the meeting.

“We appreciate that the new aid investment plan proposed by the Government of Australia aligns well with the priorities identified in Vietnam’s Socio-economic Development Strategy (SEDS) 2011-2020,” added the deputy minister.

“Australia remains committed to Vietnam’s sustainable economic growth as well as to delivering a high-quality, focused aid program that complements Vietnam’s ambitious objectives to industrialise by 2020,” said Craig Chittick, Head of the Australian delegation, who also said that he was very pleased to gain the Vietnamese Government’s support for Australia’s proposed objectives under the new Aid Investment Plan (AIP) for 2015-2020.

Australian development co-operation in Vietnam will focus on three priority areas: enabling and engaging the private sector for development; assisting the development and employment of a highly skilled workforce, and promoting women’s economic empowerment, including within ethnic minority groups.

Australian Ambassador Hugh Borrowman added that given Vietnam’s continuing economic development, Australia planned to transition from traditional aid to an economic partnership with Vietnam, an approach which will also apply to many other aid recipients in the region.

Ahead of the High Level Consultations, the government of Vietnam on July 8 approved the Vietnam – Australia Human Resource Development Program Outline for the next five years.

The long-established Australia Awards Scholarships remains the core of Australia’s support for Vietnam in the human resources area. It will be supplemented by other short-term training courses and programs designed to increase Vietnam’s professional and technical knowledge, skills and competencies and contribute to the country’s sustainable and inclusive economic development.

(Source: nhandan.org.vn)