France signed several loan and aid agreements for development projects in Vietnam at the first Vietnam-France Annual High-Level Economic Dialogue in Hanoi on Apr 9, state media reported on Ap. France will provide an additional grant of EUR1 million for the Program for Trade Capacity Building in Vietnam, under which EUR5 million has gone towards 11 projects in Vietnam since 2004. The French Agency for Development (AFD) will provide a EUR8 million loan and a grant of EUR600,000 to support public-private partnership (PPP) capacity building within the Vietnamese government. The AFD also added a loan of EUR20 million and a grant of EUR500,000 for a project on water distribution and control in the Dong Nai watershed whose construction was kicked off in 2006 but was delayed by the wave of inflation that hit Vietnam in 2008. France is now the leading provider of official development assistance (ODA) from the European Union. France’s ODA to Vietnam totaled EUR1.2 billion so far, plus other aid and loans worth EUR840 million. (Vietnam News Apr 10, Kinh Te Viet Nam The Gioi –Vietnam & World Economy Apr 10 p1, vov.vn Apr 9)
