South Korea’s official development assistance (ODA) for Vietnam is expected to increase in the future despite a recent economic and financial crisis, said KIM Young-mok, president of the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). The ODA will go to workforce, public sector reform, sustainable economic development and innovation and technology, he noted. Vietnam is a strategic cooperation partner to South Korea. Since 1991, KOICA has so far provided Vietnam with around $20 million. The funding has focused on education, health and governance, he noted. As Vietnam has become a lower middle income country, some international donors have planned to decrease grants to Vietnam thus the Vietnamese government needs to access other kinds of ODA sources. South Korea provided over $1 billion in ODA to help Vietnam implement projects on transport, health and vocational training in the 2008-2011 period. It has granted $160 million to Vietnam since 1993. (http://dangcongsan.vn [1] Oct 20)
