Belgium to Fund EUR30M for Water, Environment Projects in Central Vietnam

The Belgian government has pledged to finance EUR30 million for water and environmental sanitation projects in central Vietnam next five years, the Vietnamese government said on its website. Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Cao Viet Sinh and the Kingdom of Belgium’s Directorate General for Development Peter Moors inked an agreement on the aid in Hanoi June 22. This is part of a cooperation program is entirely consistent with the Southeast Asian country’s socioeconomic development plan 2011-2015 which is scheduled to be approved in Sept”, Sinh said. The projects, to be slated for implementation in the 2011-2015 period, is aimed to help cope with and mitigate the impacts of climate change in the three provinces of Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan and Ha Tinh. The impacts of climate change is showing clear signs across Vietnam with higher flood tides, more severe floods, droughts and salinity intrusion in recent years, threatening lives of millions of people, experts noted.
Vietnam, listed among five hardest-hit countries by climate change, has received over $1.2 billion from international community for 21 projects and programs on climate change and 11 other projects totaling nearly $1.3 billion are under negotiation process. (baodientu.chinhphu.vn June 22, Kinh Te Viet Nam & The Gioi – Vietnam & World Economy June 23 p1, Vietnam News June 23 p2)