The Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) will provide $14.3 million in preferential loan to a multi-purpose rural development project in Vietnam’s northern province of Hoa Binh. The loan was under an agreement signed between Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Finance Truong Chi Trung and KFAED’s Deputy Director General Hisham Al-Wugaiyan at a ceremony in Hanoi on August 8. Under the agreement, the Kuwait side will provide the 22-year loan with an annual interest rate of 2% to fund economic and social development and help combat poverty through developing rural infrastructure for ten residential areas in Da Bac district that are poorest in the province. The loan would help cover 68% of the project cost and the rest will come from the Vietnamese government. With the new agreement, the KFAED’s loans to Vietnam’s projects reached $143.7 million, including Dau Tieng and Van Dinh irrigation projects, and Dac Ta-Ngoc Linh route, which helped locals eradicate poverty and boost economic development. The fund had also presented Vietnam with $300,000 to finance studies on the agricultural sector. (mof.gov.vn Aug 8)
