International NGOs Pledge $36M for Vietnam Social Projects by 2013

Three foreign non-governmental organizations, the U.S.’s Operation Smile, France’s GIP-ADETEF and the U.K.’s Plan International, have pledged roughly $36 million to social projects in Vietnam from now up to 2013. Of the total, more than $30 million will come from the Plan International that spends nearly $10 million for children care and protection projects in Vietnam a year, the Quan Doi Nhan Dan newspaper reported Aug 7. Set up in Vietnam in 1989, Operational Smile has provided medical checkups and surgeries for over 20,000 local young people and children, and trained thousands of medical workers. Meanwhile, GIP-ADETEF has actively supported Vietnam in international economic cooperation and improved training capability of the related agencies in public administration and statistics.
The Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations (VUFO) Aug 5 signed an agreement to grant and extend representative office establishment licenses to the three NGOs. There are more than 750 foreign NGOs operating in Vietnam, who granted more than $1 billion for the Southeast Asian country from 2005 to June 2009. (Quan Doi Nhan Dan – People’s Army Aug 7 p8, vietnamplus.vn Aug 5)