The Japanese government will provide $200,000 in non-refundable aid to build two primary schools in Vietnam’s northern province of Ninh Binh. Under a deal on the aid signed in Hanoi on July 28, new classrooms will be built to replace makeshift small ones which used to be farm storehouses in Yen Binh and Kim Chinh communes, the Ha Noi Moi newspaper reported Jul 29. The projects will help improve primary education in the two communes as well as strengthen friendship and mutual understanding between the two countries, said Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Mitsuo Sakaba at the signing ceremony. Japan is one of biggest donors of official development assistance (ODA) to Vietnam. The Japanese government has so far helped build more than 256 primary schools in 17 provinces in flood-prone areas and four mountainous northern provinces.
