Vietnam, France Sign EUR20M Loan Pact for Climate Change Program by 2013

The Vietnamese Ministry of Finance and the French Development Agency (AFD) signed the second loan agreement worth EUR20 million to help the former implement a national program on climate change adaptation. Accordingly, the preferential 20-year loan will have a grace period of seven years and an interest rate 1.75% less than the floating euro rate. The project will be carried out from the beginning of 2012 to the end of October 2013, focusing on renewable energy, energy conservation, forest management, waste treatment, clean development mechanism, water supply, and disaster prevention and mitigation, as well as agricultural production. AFD Director Marc Gravellini emphasized that Vietnam is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change. If the sea water level rises by 1m, about 5% of Vietnam’s land will be affected, affecting 11% of its population. In 2010, Vietnam received a JPY10-billion ($129 million) loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and EUR20 million from the AFD as a first loan to the climate change program which Vietnam firstly approved in 2008. The AFD has operated in Vietnam for the last 17 years, committing capital of around EUR1.2 billion in total for development projects in the country.  Other foreign donors, including the World Bank (WB), the JICA, the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) and the Koran Export-Import Bank (Korea Eximbank), also fund for the program.  So far, the Vietnamese government has mobilized over $1.2 billion in aid from the international community in efforts to tackle the negative impacts of climate change. (Cong An Nhan Dan – People’s Police Dec 2, Tien Phong – Pioneer Dec 2 p5, Vietnam News Dec 2, vov.vn Dec 1)