S. Korea Funds Welfare Complex in Quang Nam

Construction of an $4.65 million educational welfare complex was started on December 12 in Tam Ky city, the central province of Quang Nam.The complex funded by the Korean Lotus Village organization from the Republic of Korea (RoK), will comprise facilities for the elderly and people with disabilities, as well as a foreign language training centre and a kindergarten. On the occasion, the RoK side presented five sets of prosthetic arms and legs to people with disabilities in Tam Ky city. The Korean Lotus Village organization also committed to support two local students to pursue their study in RoK each year. (Nhan Dan – The People Dec 13).Canada Grants Vietnam $14.2M to Better Banking Supervision.Canada and Vietnam have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) under which the former will provide a CAD14 million ($14.2 million) grant to help the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), the country’s central bank, raise its capacity in banking regulation and supervision. Planned for the 2012-2014 period, the project aims to help the SBV improve operations in four areas including on-site inspection, remote supervision, legal framework and SBV Inspectorate and concerned authorities.This is the largest project on the country’s banking regulation and supervision so far, the SBV said on its website.Addressing the MoU signing ceremony, SBV Governor Nguyen Van Binh said that the aid arrived at the right time when the SBV is in need of raising its capacity to ensure the restructuring of credit institutions go smoothly and bring about expected effects.Deborah Chatsis, Canada’s ambassador to the Southeast Asian country, said that Canada will provide Vietnam with technical assistance as well as modern tools and methods in line with international practice. (sbv.gov.vn Dec 11, Thoi Bao Ngan Hang – Banking Times Dec 12 p2)