Australia Plans $2.46M for Poverty Reduction Program in Central Vietnam

The Australian government will fund VND51 billion ($2.46 million) to help implement the second phase of the National Program 135 on poverty reduction in Vietnam’s central province of Quang Ngai. The information was released at a recent conference to review the Implementation Support Program (ISP) funded by the Australian Government.  The funding is part of an aid package valued at VND66.6 billion that the Australian government has pledged this year to assist Quang Ngai in production development, infrastructure construction, capacity improvement and management planning.  Vice Mayor Dinh Thi Loan emphasized the significant contributions of ISP to hunger elimination and poverty reduction in some mountainous districts of Quang Ngai. Loan also urged relevant agencies to ensure the progress of capital disbursement in 2011, the final year of the program, and keep a close watch over activities launched in the region. The Vietnamese state president has been proposed to approve $50-million loan agreement with the World Bank (WB) for the second phase of the National Program 135 on poverty reduction. (vovnews.vn Aug 10, Thoi Bao Ngan Hang – Banking Times Aug 10)